Morphological analysis of cells and chromosomes by digital computer

A computer-oriented approach to the analysis of microscopic images has been developed around CYDAC, a data conversion system which scans through the microscope and records the optical information in digital form on magnetic tape. The quality of the optical information thus made available to the computer is surprisingly good, as evidenced by reconstructions of the original image using the high-speed printer. Preparations for the computer- interpretation of scanned images are underway, using blood cells as a model system. Parallel attempts to classify human chromosomes by means of CYDAC scans have given very encouraging preliminary results.