18th Annual Student Research Conference
Interdisciplinary
An Image Analytic Approach to Characterizing Vasculogenic Networks
Christopher A. Miller
Dr. Jason E. Miller and Dr. Robert W. Baer (A. T. Still University), Faculty Mentors
Both human endothelial cells and certain types of cancer (such as melanoma) are capable of spontaneously developing into vascular networks through a process known as vasculogenic mimicry. Scientists studying these tissues have traditionally been limited by their ability to turn qualitative observations of tissues samples into quantitative data sets useful for analysis. Even where crude schemes exist, they are typically been painstakingly slow and marred by subjectivity. Our project's goal is to develop an open-source image analysis toolset, based on the ImageJ software package, that will extract quantitative data from images of these networks. These data can then be used to provide evidence for the effectiveness of agents that either prevent network formation or expedite network destruction. The results of this project will be presented along with possible directions for future work.
Keywords: vasculogenesis, cancer, image analysis, ImageJ
Topic(s):Interdisciplinary
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 50-1
Location: VH 1408
Time: 3:45