Blog

Semi-supervised machine learning facilitates cell colocalization and tracking in intravital microscopy

2-photon intravital microscopy (2P-IVM) is a key technique to investigate cell migration and cell-to-cell interactions in organs and tissues of living organisms. Focusing on immunology, 2P-IVM allowed recording videos of leukocytes during the immune response, highlighting unprecedented mechanisms of the immune system. However, the automatic analysis of the acquired videos remains challenging and poorly reproducible.…
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Machine learning of stochastic gene network phenotypes

A recurrent challenge in biology is the development of predictive quantitative models because most molecular and cellular parameters have unknown values and realistic models are analytically intractable. While the dynamics of the system can be analyzed via computer simulations, substantial computational resources are often required given uncertain parameter values resulting in large numbers of parameter…
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USMPep: Universal Sequence Models for Major Histocompatibility Complex Binding Affinity Prediction

Background: Immunotherapy is a promising route towards personalized cancer treatment. A key algorithmic challenge in this process is to decide if a given peptide (neoepitope) binds with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). This is an active area of research and there are many MHC binding prediction algorithms that can predict the MHC binding affinity for…
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Mother machine image analysis with MM3

The mother machine is a microfluidic device for high-throughput time-lapse imaging of microbes. Here, we present MM3, a complete and modular image analysis pipeline. MM3 turns raw mother machine images, both phase contrast and fluorescence, into a data structure containing cells with their measured features. MM3 employs machine learning and non-learning algorithms, and is implemented…
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Weakly-Supervised Prediction of Cell Migration Modes in Confocal Microscopy Images Using Bayesian Deep Learning

Cell migration is pivotal for their development, physiology and disease treatment. A single cell on a 2D surface can utilize continuous or discontinuous migration modes. To comprehend the cell migration, an adequate quantification for single cell-based analysis is crucial. An automatized approach could alleviate tedious manual analysis, facilitating large-scale drug screening. Supervised deep learning has…
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Accurate cell tracking and lineage construction in live-cell imaging experiments with deep learning

Live-cell imaging experiments have opened an exciting window into the behavior of living systems. While these experiments can produce rich data, the computational analysis of these datasets is challenging. Single-cell analysis requires that cells be accurately identified in each image and subsequently tracked over time. Increasingly, deep learning is being used to interpret microscopy image…
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Gene expression is encoded in all parts of a co-evolving interacting gene regulatory structure

Understanding the genetic regulatory code that governs gene expression is a primary, yet challenging aspiration in molecular biology that opens up possibilities to cure human diseases and solve biotechnology problems. However, the fundamental question of how each of the individual coding and non-coding regions of the gene regulatory structure interact and contribute to the mRNA…
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Genetic Algorithms for model refinement and rule discovery in a high-dimensional agent-based model of inflammation

Introduction: Agent-based modeling frequently used modeling method for multi-scale mechanistic modeling. However, the same properties that make agent-based models (ABMs) well suited to representing biological systems also present significant challenges with respect to their construction and calibration, particularly with respect to the large number of free parameters often present in these models. The challenge of…
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Predictive Metagenomic Analysis of Autoimmune Disease Identifies Robust Autoimmunity and Disease Specific Signatures

Within the last decade, numerous studies have demonstrated changes in the gut microbiome associated with specific autoimmune diseases. Due to differences in study design, data quality control, analysis and statistical methods, the results of these studies are inconsistent and incomparable. To better understand the relationship between the intestinal microbiome and autoimmunity, we have completed a…
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Machine Learning Analysis of Motor Evoked Potential Time Series to Predict Disability Progression in Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Evoked potentials (EPs) are a measure of the conductivity of the central nervous system. They are used to monitor disease progression of multiple sclerosis patients. Previous studies only extracted a few variables from the EPs, which are often further condensed into a single variable: the EP score. We perform a machine learning analysis of…
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