- Zargari, Abolfazl;
- Lodewijk, Gerrald A;
- Mashhadi, Najmeh;
- Cook, Nathan;
- Neudorf, Celine W;
- Araghbidikashani, Kimiasadat;
- Hays, Robert;
- Kozuki, Sayaka;
- Rubio, Stefany;
- Hrabeta-Robinson, Eva;
- Brooks, Angela;
- Hinck, Lindsay;
- Shariati, S Ali
Time-lapse microscopy is the only method that can directly capture the dynamics and heterogeneity of fundamental cellular processes at the single-cell level with high temporal resolution. Successful application of single-cell time-lapse microscopy requires automated segmentation and tracking of hundreds of individual cells over several time points. However, segmentation and tracking of single cells remain challenging for the analysis of time-lapse microscopy images, in particular for widely available and non-toxic imaging modalities such as phase-contrast imaging. This work presents a versatile and trainable deep-learning model, termed DeepSea, that allows for both segmentation and tracking of single cells in sequences of phase-contrast live microscopy images with higher precision than existing models. We showcase the application of DeepSea by analyzing cell size regulation in embryonic stem cells.