Cell culture device, image processing device and cell detecting system

a cell culture and image processing technology, applied in the field of cell culture devices, image processing devices and cell detection systems, can solve the problems of indistinct cell outline, increased size and cost, and difficulty in continuing the culture,

Inactive Publication Date: 2011-07-05
KANEKA CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0035]According to the present invention, observation of the cells in culture process can be carried out without taking them out of the device, thus fungi other than culture target would not be mixed into the incubator.
[0036]Also, according to the present invention, it is possible to extract only the cell portions without being influenced by color variation of the medium, variation of light volume, difference in brightness between the central and peripheral areas of the image or noise.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAMS
[0037]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a cell culture device, image processing device and cell extracting system relating to the present embodiment.
[0038]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic view of the arrangement of the respective configuration means in the cell culture device.
[0039]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing details of an image-processing unit in FIG. 1.
[0040]FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of a cell extracting process by which the image-processing unit executes.

Problems solved by technology

In a conventional method for observing the cells in culture process by taking them out of the thermostatic chamber and observing them using a microscope, since the cells are exposed to the atmosphere in the laboratory, there has been a problem of having difficulty continuing the culture again after observing the cells with the microscope.
A conceivable means to solve the problem would be to incorporate the microscope into the incubator, but it would create another problem i.e. the increase in size and cost.
However, depending on image data, there have been cases that the above-mentioned effectiveness was limited or the outline of the cells was indistinct.

Method used

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Examples

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Embodiment Construction

[0047]Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the attached diagrams. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a cell culture device, image-processing device and cell extracting system related to the present embodiment. As seen in the diagram, cell culture device 11 has a box structure which seals off the inside thereof from outer space, and contains therein:

[0048]incubator 12 for culturing cells;

[0049]CCD camera 13 for imaging the cells in incubator 12;

[0050]converter 15 for transferring image data obtained from CCD camera 13 to image-processing unit 14;

[0051]camera / incubator drive unit 16 for moving CCD camera 13 or incubator 12;

[0052]motor controller 17 for shifting camera / incubator drive unit 16 to an arbitrary position; and

[0053]light source 18 mounted on the upper part of CCD camera 13. Incubator 12 has a transparent bottom surface, and CCD camera is configured to image transmitted light which is the light irradiated from lig...

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Abstract

In a container of a cell culture device, a light source and a camera are arranged on both sides of an incubator, and the camera or incubator can be moved in relation to each other.An image of cells in the incubator is captured with a given focus.The medium, image density, and noise component of images captured while varying the focus of the camera have substantially similar pixel values.Consequently, by subjecting the data on the images captured with such different focuses to differential processing, only the cell portion can be extracted without being influenced by the color variation of the medium, the variation of the amount of light, the difference in brightness between the central and peripheral areas of the image, and the noise.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a cell culture device, image processing device and cell detecting system capable of extracting a cell portion from a plurality of image data obtained during the cell culture process.BACKGROUND ART[0002]In the process of cell culture, image observation of a culture state of microscopic cells has been carried out in the past mainly in laboratories of organization such as universities and institutes, by taking out the petri dish in which the culture is placed from a thermostatic chamber and observing the cells using a microscope.[0003]Also, in order to extract the cells from image data obtained during cell culture, the threshold value has been calculated based on distribution of pixel values, and pixels equal to the threshold value and above or below have been extracted as the cell. However, the method using the above-mentioned threshold processing had a problem that the image turned out whitish, whereby detecting as if more cells e...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & AuthorityPatents(United States)
IPC IPC(8): G06K9/00
InventorKOMORI, YOSHIHIROSUZUKI, TSUTOMU
OwnerKANEKA CORP