Neuroscience ā Faster image processing

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists designed software for St. Jude Childrenās Research Hospital that significantly sped processing of microscopy images used in brain development research. The software provided frame-by-frame analysis of video taken of a mouse brain cell in a matter of hours compared with traditional manual techniques that can take weeks. St. Judeās researchers are exploring how neurons migrate in the developing brain to better understand how defects in the process may result in certain disorders such as epilepsy or intellectual disability. āAutomatic processing of the images saves time and provides more data for better statistics in these studies,ā said ORNLās Ryan Kerekes. Dr. David Solecki of St. Judeās Developmental Neurobiology Department said his collaboration with ORNL has been āindispensable.ā The ORNL tools āfree up biologists to do what they do best: apply their expert knowledge to analysis tasks,ā he said. Results of the research in Nature Communications.