Machine learning topological defects in confluent tissues

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Killeen, Andrew, Bertrand, Thibault, Lee, Chiu Fan
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Killeen, Andrew
Bertrand, Thibault
Lee, Chiu Fan
author_facet Killeen, Andrew
Bertrand, Thibault
Lee, Chiu Fan
contents Active nematics is an emerging paradigm for characterising biological systems. One aspect of particularly intense focus is the role active nematic defects play in these systems, as they have been found to mediate a growing number of biological processes. Accurately detecting and classifying these defects in biological systems is, therefore, of vital importance to improving our understanding of such processes. While robust methods for defect detection exist for systems of elongated constituents, other systems, such as epithelial layers, are not well suited to such methods. Here, we address this problem by developing a convolutional neural network to detect and classify nematic defects in confluent cell layers. Crucially, our method is readily implementable on experimental images of cell layers and is specifically designed to be suitable for cells that are not rod-shaped. We demonstrate that our machine learning model outperforms current defect detection techniques and that this manifests itself in our method requiring less data to accurately capture defect properties. This could drastically improve the accuracy of experimental data interpretation whilst also reducing costs, advancing the study of nematic defects in biological systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2303_08166
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Machine learning topological defects in confluent tissues
Killeen, Andrew
Bertrand, Thibault
Lee, Chiu Fan
Soft Condensed Matter
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Active nematics is an emerging paradigm for characterising biological systems. One aspect of particularly intense focus is the role active nematic defects play in these systems, as they have been found to mediate a growing number of biological processes. Accurately detecting and classifying these defects in biological systems is, therefore, of vital importance to improving our understanding of such processes. While robust methods for defect detection exist for systems of elongated constituents, other systems, such as epithelial layers, are not well suited to such methods. Here, we address this problem by developing a convolutional neural network to detect and classify nematic defects in confluent cell layers. Crucially, our method is readily implementable on experimental images of cell layers and is specifically designed to be suitable for cells that are not rod-shaped. We demonstrate that our machine learning model outperforms current defect detection techniques and that this manifests itself in our method requiring less data to accurately capture defect properties. This could drastically improve the accuracy of experimental data interpretation whilst also reducing costs, advancing the study of nematic defects in biological systems.
title Machine learning topological defects in confluent tissues
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.08166