A NOVEL INTEGRATIVE BIOINFORMATICS ENVIRONMENT FOR ENCODING AND INTERROGATING TIMELAPSE MICROSCOPY IMAGES

Image-derived kinetic cell-based assays, where time is the quality parameter, demand unique solutions enabling image encoding and interrogation of spatio-temporal cellular events. Our overall strategy is to derive integrated data mining tools and predictive models capable of producing in-silico cell response fingerprints for use in drug screening, experimental therapeutics and hypothesis-testing for the design of treatment regimens. Critical to realizing this aim is the development of bioinformatics and visualisation tools to address problems of cellular heterogeneity, stochasticity and scaling for the impact of drugs on cell populations and to use these tools in making fundamental advances in our understanding of drug targeting in complex neoplastic systems.