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Program Leader:
Prof Stuart Crozier (University of Queensland).
We are creating and improving methods for accurately screening
for cancerous and pre-cancerous cells while decreasing the cost
of screening.
The Cytometrics Project
This project derives its name from cyto- which is a word element
referring to cells and metric which pertains to measurement. The
Project researches the detection of cancerous and pre-cancerous
changes in samples of human cells. This encompasses both morphological
and molecular changes. Morphological changes are manifest in the
size, shape, texture etc. of cells. Molecular changes are specific
DNA changes detected by chemical markers and probes. In both cases
such changes can be quantitatively measured from digitized microscope
images using a computer and image analysis techniques.
Focus on cancer screening
To date the Project has focused on cancer screening—cervical
cancer (Pap smears), lung cancer (sputum samples), bladder cancer
(urine samples), and oral cancer (buccal smears)—and, in
particular, the development of computer algorithms to automate,
or assist cytoprofessionals with, the screening of slide specimens.
The aim is to effect an increase in the accuracy of and a decrease
in the cost of screening.
Commercialisation
To this end the Project has established a portfolio of intellectual
property (IP) covering cell scene segmentation, cell nucleus segmentation,
and novel methods for quantifying cell texture. This IP is currently
being commercialized.
Virtual micoscopy
More recent project initiatives include research on statistical
pattern recognition techniques for identifying molecular panel
assays for the purpose of classifying lung cancers, and the development
of a virtual microscope. The latter initiative involves the development
of a combined software/hardware system for acquiring a high resolution
and high magnification digital representation of the entire cell
deposition area on a cytology slide. This representation can then
be displayed on a computer monitor and interactively panned and
zoomed. The many benefits of virtual microscopy include: (i) once
a slide has been scanned the original slide specimen is no longer
needed; (ii) no microscope is needed to view the virtual specimen;
(iii) the virtual slide, because it is no more than a computer
file, can be easily copied and disseminated. Important applications
of virtual microscopy include: teaching, testing the screening
proficiency of student and professional cytotechnologists, and
assessing the quality of screening services provided by pathology
laboratories.
For further details please contact:
Mr Geoff Vaughan-Evans
Centre Manager
CSSIP
Building P, Mawson Lakes Campus
University of South Australia
MAWSON LAKES
SA 5095 Australia
Phone: +61 8 8302 3923
Fax: +61 8 8302 5301
Email: gve@cssip.edu.au
or
Professor Stuart Crozier
School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
University of Queensland
ST LUCIA 4072
Phone: +61 7 3365 7098
Fax: +61 7 3365 4999
Email: stuart@itee.uq.edu.au
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