Fast image and data processing methods for novel neuroscience technologies

The nematode C. elegans, a transparent animal with 302 neurons, is a suitable model organism for whole-brain measurement of nervous activity. However, under panneuronal labeling, it is difficult to resolve the identity of the neurons by shape or location alone. We propose a fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) based pipeline for reading out gene expression from neurons. Using optimization methods, we select a compact set of genes that provide enough information to distinguish every neighboring pair of neurons in the nervous system. We show that we can process volumetric images of live and fixed C. elegans to read out the gene expression patterns of each observed neuron and match it to their calcium indicator data. Separately, we also outline computational approaches to processing fluorescence data from novel fluorescent sensors.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Çeliker, Orhan Tunç

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Boyden, Edward S.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright MIT

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/143327

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/143327