Detecting Virus-like Particles Using Transmission Electron Microscopy

We present a multi scale approach for automating the image acquisition process for an computerized virus diagnostic application. Our methods are designed to mimic the methodology used by virus TEM experts manually operating the microscope. The methods decrease the search area considerably. In addition we present a segmentation method for virus-like particles based on local intensity information and PCA. This method makes no assumption regarding shape which is vital since many viruses are highly pleomorphic, i.e., have different shapes. The only input parameter used is the approximate virus thickness,which is a conserved feature within a virus species