Team:Virginia/Software

We hope to keep improving our code as we continue to research our minicells after the International Jamboree. To access the most recent versions, please check out our MatLab File Exchange page, available below. Files may take up to a week to be approved, so feel free to contact

Chris Cai

clc3jz@virginia.edu

if you would like files immediately or any further information.

Program Summary: We recognize our optimal IPTG induction levels may not be the same across different strains or different bacteria. We hope our program will save future users time optimizing IPTG minicell induction levels. With this program, users can save time by avoiding purification before counting. In addition, sorting algorithms allows users to process many images at the same time.

Our program processes purified or unpurified images of minicells and returns minicell counts and population statistics.

Functionality

• Converts fluorescent images to binary matrixes
• Removes glare from images by generating a ‘disc’ structural element
• Removes insignificant particles based on area thresholding algorithms or by manual input.
• Counts total number of cells
• Uses Support Vector Machine algorithms to classify cells as minicells or parent cell (requires “calibration cases” to “train” the machine)
• Plots cells in image on various bar graphs and histograms