Quail Egg Image Analysis

We are working with the Childrens Cancer Therapy Development Center to help automate testing with quail eggs. This project aims to automate the process of checking eggs for current and future viability during treatment.

=Problem Definition=

Background
Preclinical research goes from in vitro studies that are inexpensive and not necessarily indicative of the disease to mouse studies that are better models but prohibitively expensive at scale. Chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assays utilizing Japanese quail (Coturnix Japonica) are a cost-effective screening method to precede murine xenografts. To increase the throughput of CAM assays we have built and optimized a platform for processing 100-200 quail a week to validate one or more in vitro hit per week. Herein we demonstrate concordance and divergence from in vitro data and concordance with murine in vivo studies, suggesting a role for ex ovo studies in the validation of new anticancer agents.

We need automatic detection of shell-free quail embryos that will not be viable before we do tumor cell engraftment and drug testing. The “Egg Buddy MK2” digital heart monitor provides proof of concept that EKG is possible.

Deliverables
Our goal is to create a device that can determine viability in a dark room environment. The device will consist of a camera and additional sensors feeding input to a driving program. This program will constantly assess specified metrics and output live results of the eggs viability. These results will be displayed via a multi-platform GUI application.

Specifications
The device should determine the following metrics by a combination of touch-free or minimally-invasive, aseptic electrodes. Imaging can be taken from above or below using visible or near-infrared light. Nothing should touch the internal components of the plate if possible. Components should have minimal luminescence or light-scattering.
 * Heart rate
 * Oximetry (oxygen saturation)
 * CAM blood vessel area
 * Branch point count

=Design Considerations=

=Project Learning=

=Final Design=

=Validation=

=Team Members=

=Additional Documentation=

Project Schedule

Meeting Minutes

Presentations


 * Meet The Team
 * Snapshot I