Improved cell tracking via automated removal of particulates

Particulates in microscope imagery can interfere with cell boundary tracking algorithms. In this paper, we present an automated way of identifying and tracking particulates. We also demonstrate a way of `removing´ the particulates from the image to obtain a more accurate segmentation and demonstrate this using a previously-developed active contour-based segmentation algorithm. We also demonstrate some pitfalls of using particulate tracking, especially when the particulates are near cell boundaries.