Cell nucleus architecture in health and medicine: geometrical descriptors and their use in grid based case studies

Adopting the world wide accessible Grid computing power and data management structures enables usage of large image data bases for individual diagnosis and therapy decisions. Here, we define several descriptors of the genome architecture of cell nuclei which are the basis of a detailed analysis for conclusions on the health state of an individual patient. All these descriptors can be accessed by automatic inspection of microscopic images of fluorescently labelled nuclei, obtained from cells from tissue sections or blood and subjected to standard biochemical protocols. We demonstrate how the combinatorial, geometrical and statistical parameters may be used in diagnosis and therapy monitoring.