Projects > Locating Nuclei

Dr. Art White and Dr. Tim Diller worked with students Peter Gerken and Darrin Griffis on a research project to locate and diagnose cervical epithelial cells present in a Pap smear. The software drove a motorized stage on the microscope and automatically advanced the microscope's lens over the slide searching for dark objects in each new window. When an object was located, a localized histogram of the surrounding area was calculated to determine the threshold boundaries between the potential nucleus and the cytoplasm and between the cytoplasm and the background. Using these thresholds, the program was then able to find the potential nucleus' size, perimeter, and the amount of surrounding cytoplasm.

The project used fuzzy logic to assess the "nucleus-hood" of each dark object. Fuzzy logic allowed the three features (size, perimeter and cytoplasm) to be merged in a single assessment. Various rules were used to determine the degree of membership the object has in a "nucleus set".

The software was applied to twelve slides from two Pap smear studies (one judged normal and the other having abnormal cells). Ten images were used to determine the ranges for the three features. The twelve slides were tested and the results were satisfactory.