Automated image analysis with microscopic

Sub-cellular imaging instruments are automated (fluorescence) microscopes with integrated automated image analysis. Such instruments can be divided into two broad classes 93... 

Automated image analysis may be successfully applied using only a flatbed scanner. This opens possibilities to perform quantitative image analysis of pore structures (and also of aggregate grain distribution) also by small and less equipped laboratories. Even a high-resolution scanner is much less expensive than a classic microscope with all the additional equipment, and the parameters of the air-void system may be obtained with the same precision (Zalocha and Kasperkiewicz 2005). 

Figure 12.1 Micromanipulation system consisting of a micropipette chamber mounted on an inverted phase-contrast microscope equipped with a sensitive CCD camera (A), real-time image analysis running on a UNIX workstation (B), and a set-up controlling pressure and manipulator position by a personal computer (C). The pipette suction pressure is created hydrostatically. We can generate controlled membrane tensions down to 10 dyncm corresponding to 1 pm height difference between two linked water reservoirs. The micropipettes are mounted on two three-axis manipulators which can be moved manually or by computer. Image analysis is integrated with the automated experimental device control.

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