A 3D model with shape prior information for biological structures reconstruction using multiple-angle total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy

We propose a new model for the reconstruction of biological structures using Multiple-Angle Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy (MA-TIRFM). This recent microscopy technique allows the visualization of sub-cellular structures around the plasma membrane which is of fundamental importance in the comprehension of exchanges mechanisms of the cell. We present a 3D reconstruction method based on a shape prior information on the observed structures and robust to shot noise and background fluorescence. A novelty with respect to the state of the art is to propose a method allowing the recovery of multiple objects aligned along the axial axis. The optimization problem can be formulated as a minimization problem where both the number of objects in the model and their parameters have to be estimated. This difficult combinatorial optimization problem is tackled by using a Marked Point Process approach which allows modelling interactions between the objects in order to regularize the inverse problem. Finally, performances of the proposed method are evaluated on synthetic data and real data.