1. COMPUTER SOFTWARE WITH ALGORITHMS NECESSARY TO ASSESS A VARIETY OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND PARAMETRIC FEATURES…

Public award description

1. COMPUTER SOFTWARE WITH ALGORITHMS NECESSARY TO ASSESS A VARIETY OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND PARAMETRIC FEATURES OF CELLS IN HISTOLOGICALLY PROCESSED TISSUE SECTIONS (EITHER FOR BRIGHTFIELD VISUALIZATION OR FLUORESCENCE) AND STATISTICALLY ESTIMATE POPULATION PARAMETERS IN AN UNBIASED MANNER BASED ON RANDOM SAMPLING; CRITICAL FEATURES INCLUDE ABILITY TO ASSESS A) TOTAL DENSITY AND NUMBERS OF CELLS IN A REGION, B) TOTAL FIBER LENGTH AND FIBER DENSITY, C) TOTAL VOLUMES (LOAD) AND VOLUME FRACTIONS, D) TOTAL SURFACE AREA AND SURFACE DENSITY, E) SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF BIOLOGICAL OBJECTS; HAS CAPABILITY TO COUNT MULTIPLE OBJECTS ON A SINGLE PASS THROUGH THE TISSUE. HAS CAPABILITY TO PERFORM DESIGN-BASED STEREOLOGY USING LIVE VIDEO IMAGES OR STACKS OF DIGITAL IMAGES COLLECTED FROM OTHER SOURCES AND SAVED IN ANY OF THE MAJOR FORMATS (TIFF, JPEG, ETC.). RUNS A NUMBER OF STEREOLOGICAL PROBES SUCH AS CAVALIERI ESTIMATOR, OPTICAL FRACTIONATOR, PHYSICAL DISECTOR, SPACE BALLS, NUCLEATOR, PLANAR ROTATOR, COMBINED SLOPE INTERCEPT; INCLUDES SIMPLIFIED ALGORITHM FOR STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO PERFORM SETEREOLOGY PROTOCOLS AND A TRAINING MODULE. PRECISION X-Y-Z-AXIS MOTORIZED MICROSCOPE STAGE SYSTEM FOR FOCUSING THROUGH THICKNESS OF HISTOLOGICALLY PROCESSED TISSUE SECTIONS WITH 50 NM RESOLUTION.PC-BASED COMPUTER FOR RUNNING STEREOLOGY SOFTWARE, CONTROLLING MOTORIZED STAGE AND DIGITAL CAMERA AND STORING AND ANALYZING DIGITAL IMAGES. DIGITAL CAMERA NECESSARY FOR IMAGING CELLS AT HIGH MAGNIFICATION THROUGH MICROSCOPE; MINIMUM 2 MEGAPIXEL RAW DISPLAY, ELECTRONIC SHUTTER, GAIN AND RGB CONTROLS FOR FLUORESCENT IMAGING, CUSTOM-DEVELOPED DRIVERS NECESSARY FOR INTEGRATION WITH STEREOLOGY SOFTWARE. CALIBRATION DEVICE TO CALIBRATE MICROSCOPE/CAMERA. INCLUDES ASSISTANCE IN TROUBLESHOOTING HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONFIGURATIONS, PROGRAM ERRORS, POST-INSTALLATION SUPPORT, DISCOUNTS ON FUTURE SOFTWARE RELEASES. FOR SET-UP AND INSTALLATION OF MICROSCOPE, COMPUTER, CAMERA AND SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION. INCLUDES OVERVIEW OF PRINCIPLES OF STEREOLOGY AND ASSISTANCE WITH DESIGN AND START-UP OF SPECIFIC RESEARCH PROJECTS