Adaptive segmentation of DAPI-stained, C-banded, aggregated and overlapping chromosomes for the dicentrics chromosome assay

In the Dicentrics Chromosome Assay for radiation damage detection, chromosomes fall on slides and aggregate to groups. This reduces the ability to count them. We have devised a set of algorithms that discern mildly to moderately aggregated chromosomes for our DAPI+C-Banding staining method, whose chief properties are fast application and a new contrast mechanism, where the centromeres are labelled with high contrast on the chromosomes, with a common fluorescent stain. The algorithms are adaptive. They combine binary search with measurable features in the images, to ease the constraints of a non-machine-learning code, that was overtrained for a specific image or several images. With this method we have achieved high detection ability of chromosomes and centromeres with traditional image processing algorithms.