HistoQuest - Always look on the bright(field) side of life
HistoQuest streamlines all features needed from optimal viewing to accurate image processing as well as batch processing and reporting. HistoQuest is built to help you enjoy your work. It offers optimal overview of up to 6 different slides for visual inspection and at the same time a set of precise image analysis algorithms to prepare a quantitative report in a very user friendly but highly accurate and secure form.
Image processing has never been this easy
- An automated tissue and structure detection and the automatic Color Separation simplify your workflow
- Patented cell detection algorithms for intensity measurement of nuclear, membranous and cytoplasmic antigens
- Intuitive user interface and automated Cut Off Suggestion
- Unique Back- and Forward-Connection is an ideal tool for data analysis and data control
- Multi-Slide Viewer with sample linking and map zooming
- Easy to use assisted annotation and ROI generation
- Automated report generation, as well as data report
- Batch sample processing.
Modularization
TissueGnostics has made major efforts to equip its users with Software that is tailored to their needs. As the final result HistoQuest 3.0 is the first HistoQuest to be modularized. Taking into consideration the different applications of image analysis software around the globe, TissueGnostics defined 2 major classes, with altogether 7 module-packages:
- Modul 1 - Cell Counting
- Modul 2 - Cell Counting Auto
- Modul 3 - Diagnostics
- Modul 4 - Diagnostics Xtended
- Modul 5 - TMA
New Multi Tissue Viewer
The brand new Multi Tissue Viewer aligns up to six consecutive sections of one sample, with six different stainings, for optimal comparison of analysis results in the same anatomical structure.
Loading projects
HistoQuest can load complete HistoFAXS projects and display the overview of the regions of interest.
Graphical tools can be used to draw analysis selections on these areas of interest for subsequent HistoQuest analysis (e.g. for tumor areas, etc.).
Analysis selections can be linked to form a compound analysis selection and can also be inverted.
Importing images
Alternatively, series of images from other sources can be imported.
As the spatial relation is not available, such image series cannot be reassembled into an overview.
They can, however, be analyzed by HistoQuest.
Color separation
Contrary to immunofluorescence, the marker information in immunohistochemistry images is contained in one image – in order to analyse it, a color separation has to be done. Information for the optimization of the picked color values can be gained by very rapid interim result calculation.
In HistoQuest, this is done semiautomatically. RGB color values are manually picked with a color picker tool.
The automatic segmentation which follows produces a gray value channel image for each marker, allowing treatment with the TissueGnostics algorithms.
HistoQuest provides several possibilities for color separation. Depending on experimental aims different separation methods can be used:
- Automatic Color Separation
- Single Reference Shades
- Multiple Reference Shades
Nuclear segmentation
Automatic nuclear segmentation is achieved via TissueGnostics patented set of algorithms.
Once rapid test calculations done on representative images have established a good segmentation, nuclear segmentation as well as the measurement masks can be automatically computed for virtually any number of corresponding images.
Nuclear segmentation in HistoQuest is completely automatic after the input of a few starting values:
- Average nuclear size
- Discrimination by area (Exclusion of smaller nuclear sections)
- Discrimination by gray value (Exclusion of weakly stained nuclei)
- Background threshold (Default setting is automatic)
Backward and Forward Connection
Evaluate your result by selecting any event or group of events in the scattergram.
The corresponding cell will be immediately highlighted in the image, allowing the user to control reliability of the analysis data.
The real-time back gating feature from scattergram quadrants and gates is used for interactive Cut Off setting.
Attention: Consult operating instructions for use!