Morphologically constrained and data informed cell segmentation of budding yeast

Although high-content image cytometry is becoming increasingly routine, processing the large amount of data acquired during time-lapse experiments remains a challenge. The majority of approaches for automated single-cell segmentation focus on flat, uniform fields of view covered with a single layer of cells. In the increasingly popular microfluidic devices that trap individual cells for long term imaging, these conditions are not met. Consequently, most segmentation techniques perform poorly. Incorporating information about the microfluidic features, media flow and morphology of the cells can substantially improve performance, though it may constrain the generalizability of software.