ImaCytE
Visual Exploration of Cellular Micro-Environments for Imaging Mass Cytometry Data
Antonios Somarakis (Leiden University Medical Center)
Vincent van Unen (Leiden University Medical Center)
Frits Koning (Leiden University Medical Center)
Boudewijn P.F. Lelieveldt (Leiden University Medical Center)
Thomas Höllt (Leiden University Medical Center, TU Delft - Computer Graphics and Visualisation)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Tissue functionality is determined by the characteristics of tissue-resident cells and their interactions within their microenvironment. Imaging Mass Cytometry offers the opportunity to distinguish cell types with high precision and link them to their spatial location in intact tissues at sub-cellular resolution. This technology produces large amounts of spatially-resolved high-dimensional data, which constitutes a serious challenge for the data analysis. We present an interactive visual analysis workflow for the end-to-end analysis of Imaging Mass Cytometry data that was developed in close collaboration with domain expert partners. We implemented the presented workflow in an interactive visual analysis tool; ImaCytE. Our workflow is designed to allow the user to discriminate cell types according to their protein expression profiles and analyze their cellular microenvironments, aiding in the formulation or verification of hypotheses on tissue architecture and function. Finally, we show the effectiveness of our workflow and ImaCytE through a case study performed by a collaborating specialist.
help_outline