Automatic acquisition of Immunofluorescence images: algorithms and evaluation

In this paper, we report our experience in the development of a system for automatic acquisition of Immuno-Fluorescence Assay (IFA) images. We focus on two basic issues. Firstly, we determine an autofocus function that can deal with photobleaching, a physical phenomenon affecting automatic acquisition of IFA images, and present a set of experiments on real images that confirm its effectiveness. Secondly, we discuss if the physicians may reliably use digital IFA images in place of direct microscope observations to carry out the diagnosis. In this respect, we present the results of a preliminary experiment where physicians perform the diagnosis on a set of images both by looking directly to them at the fluorescence microscope and by looking at digital images on the screen of a workstation.