3D Particle image velocimetry (PIV) analysis of cellular migration during embryonic development

Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) has been used to generate three dimensional datasets of the embryonic development of some organisms. This allows to study the three dimensional morphological changes and to identify embryonic structures throughout development. Visual evaluation of these datasets offers qualitative descriptions of embryonic events, but quantitative and rigorous analysis pipelines are required. This talks is about quantitatively characterizing cellular migration from such 3D datasets of the embryonic development of Tribolium Castaneum [1]. In order to analyse the volumes we implemented a 3D particle image velocimetry (PIV) analysis. This analysis is borrowed form the field of fluid mechanics, where small fluorescent or reflective particles are suspended in a fluid with turbulent flow, and the change in position of the moving particles is used as an indirect measure of direction and velocity of the flow. Overall, the availability of quantitative measurement from these datasets enables the elaboration and testing of mathematical models about embryonic events of interest.