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Counting stained DNA

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Stained DNA.jpg

Q: we need to "count cell/dna etc from still microscopic image... Here we stained DNA ...S-phase are in red and G-phase is in Blue. We want to count how many red are there and how many blue are there."

I used Pixcavator and did a bit of experimenting with the first image. The red cells are easy to capture - in the red channel, 71 total.

Stained DNA screenshot - red.jpg

Now the red cells are so bright that in the blue channel they are also present. So, here you see both red and blue and have to subtract:

 299 - 71 = 228 of the blue ones.

Stained DNA screenshot - blue.jpg


Stained DNA red removed.jpg

Using subtraction here isn't a perfect solution clearly. To separate red and blue one might try to filter the spots based on the size or intensity.


Image processing can help too - I simply removed the red using Photoshop Elements.

The total was 204:

Stained DNA screenshot - blue not red.jpg

One day you'll be able to use the true color analysis.

Run this analysis with Pixcavator SI.

Other examples of image analysis