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Speedy Construction

Rapid reconstruction of volume EM images by automatic assignment of cell types and tissues

27 March 2023

Speedy Construction

When you really want to zoom into a tissue, electron microscopy (EM) is the way to go. Detailed EM images can then be manually 'stitched together', forming 3D reconstructions. For accurate 'stitching' specific features that indicate different cell types must be identified first. This is incredibly time-consuming. Researchers now present an automatic way to create 3D reconstructions using a neural network and deep learning. This approach was tested on EM images of an annelid worm. Different cell types and tissues were identified and reconstructed in 3D, including the foregut, pictured in its entirety (left) and with different muscle groups removed (middle, right). Comparing these results to an atlas of genes across an entire annelid, they found that clusters of distinct cell types identified with this method matched clusters of cells with specific genes switched on. This supports the effectiveness of this speedy approach for analysing large volumes of EM data.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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