15 February 2012
News
The
understanding of diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's is set to
take a step forward following innovative technology which will
enable cell analysis using automated 3D microscopy.
An initiative between the Griffith's School of Information Communication
Technology and the Eskitis Institute for Cellular and Molecular
Biology in Queensland, Australia, this new technology will allow the automated identification,
separation and analysis of cells as complex as nerve cells in the
brain.
According to Dr Adrian
Meedeniya, manager of Griffith's Imaging and Image Analysis Facility:
"Scientists and clinicians will be able to superimpose multiple data
sets in three dimensions using automated techniques and then conduct
detailed analysis of the data in a far improved way from the two
dimensional microscopy that is currently available."
Microscopy and image acquisition technology has undergone a recent
revolution, with modern microscopes generating huge multi-dimensional
data sets that can easily fill an entire hard drive. Manually analysing
these data-sets is incredibly time consuming and prone to human error
and bias.
Dr Meedeniva goes on to say:
"One of the main motivations for establishing this collaboration
with the School of ICT was to create the technology to efficiently deal
with these huge data sets. We will be able to use this technology to rapidly increase our
understanding of the way neuro-degenerative disorders affect nerve cell
function in the brain."
Underpinned by neural network algorithms (artificial intelligence),
the cutting-edge technology is expected to be widely used in disease
research within a matter of a few years.
Further information
Contact information
Griffith University was established in 1971, officially opened in 1975 and now has five campuses in Queensland, Australia.
