Image processing and 3D reconstruction of serial section micrographs from Musca Domestica's biological cells...

The ability to visualize and understand three-dimensional objects from two-dimensional cross-section or slice images is difficult, even if the observer has a general concept of the object of interest. The focus of this research is to apply image-processing methods to two-dimensional cross-section electron transmission micrographs of the biological cells of the Musca Domestica's, or household fly's visual system in an effort to better understand the cells responsible for processing visual information. The application of knowledge gained from biological systems is know as biomimetics. The first task will be to construct a useful three-dimensional data set from two-dimensional micrographs provided by the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The data set will be constructed by aligning these images in an edge-to-edge fashion to form a layer. Once each layer is reconstructed, the layers will be stacked and registered to form the third dimension of the data set. This task is complicated by the fact that translation, rotation and scaling mismatches exist in the images. The second task will be to segment and label the biological cells of interest. Computerized segmentation has not yet proved successful, resulting in a manual or "brain-powered" approaches being used at many institutions. By using and modifying current computer image-processing techniques, advances leading to a semi-automated segmentation process may result. Finally, the segmented data must be formatted for use with existing software to render and view the cell(s) of interest. A "marching cubes" surface-rendering algorithm is often implemented in current visualization software, along with routines to view, rotate and scale the resulting surfaces in real time. The result of viewing and manipulating the biological data set will be an increased understanding of the processes of the fly's visual system. Other researchers will use the knowledge gained from the three-dimensional renderings of the cells to further develop an analog vision system based on the fly's compound eye. Much of this research is funded by the Navy Air Warfare Center in an effort to design an analog visual system with real-time target identification and tracking capabilities.