Speaker: Bogusław Obara (Oxford)

Title of the talk: BioImage Informatics

Abstract: A large proportion of biological research is dependent on the acquisition and interpretation of images. These images represent an enormous intellectual capital that is substantially underutilized if they are not captured, stored and analyzed as part of an integrated research workflow. Moreover, such a workflow has become increasingly dependent on the quantitative analysis of large numbers of images. This progress has come about as new microscopes and imaging techniques produce vast amounts of multi-scale, -type and -format images and metadata. These in turn have recently brought about new challenges for the image processing community. Digital image processing techniques such as segmentation contribute to biological model creation and validation strategy. Segmentation can help outline and identify particular regions in an imaged volume where there is biological activity of interest taking place. Segmentation can also generate time series data for validating systems biology models. After image segmentation, volume and surface rendering can be employed for data visualization. Implementing biology models in conjunction with imaging and image processing provides a way to refine understanding of biological systems. Moreover, as life science research evolves toward highthroughput biology, bioimage informatics is fast becoming an integral part of experimental design. This evolution is promoting increased integration and cross-disciplinary collaboration between life, imaging and computer scientists.