eLABPS - Stereoscopy in biotechnology and life sciences: research on imaging of biological samples and on possibilities for automatic image analysis using the example of Legionella pneumophila

The acqusition of planar image of biological samples in research and routine laboratories is already a common practice. A subsequent automated analysis of these images is often difficult or incorrect, since depth information of the pictured objects is missing.

The use of stereoscopically generated images is a fundamentally new approach to solve this problem. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to develop a platform with a self-calibrating camera (see Fig. 1) and a software-platform for the operation, the reconstruction of 3D-images and the automated image analysis of biological samples, which can later be used as a highly efficient, universal software framework.

The proof-of-concept will be demonstrated using the example of cultures of Legionella pneumophila. Legionella belong to pathogenic group of Gram-negative bacteria, which are primarily found in hot water circuits of drinking water supplies, causing a pneumonia-type illness called Legionnaires' disease and a mild flu-like illness called Pontiac fever. Regular examinations of drinking water installations are prescribed in Germany, according to the German Drinking Water Ordinance, in order to prevent an outbreak of the disease. These procedures should be performed according to the standards DIN EN ISO 11731-2:2008 and ISO 11731:1998 (E) and are carried out in high numbers in routine laboratory of drinking water analysis. Due to the many manual processing steps, especially the optic culture inspection, these investigations are high in cost.

The aim of the project is therefore to develop a high-throughput hardware and software platform for automated stereoscopic image acquisition and the subsequent automatic analysis and evaluation of the image data. By combining the stereoscopic picture-taking technology with new methods of laboratory automation automatic detection and enumeration of indicator micro-organisms will be possible for the first time.

Project funding:

The Saxon State Ministry of Science and the Fine Arts

Project head: ​

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Project staff:

​​​Project term:​​​​​

23.07.2015 – 31.12.2016

Contact:

Syngelaki , Otto , Grothkopp, Lenk