BioSig: a bioinformatic system for studying the mechanism of inter-cell signaling

Mapping inter-cell signaling pathways requires an integrated view of experimental and informatic protocols. BioSig provides the foundation of cataloging inter-cell responses as a function of particular conditioning, treatment, staining, etc. for either in vivo or in vitro experiments. This paper outlines the system architecture, a functional data model for representing experimental protocols, algorithms for image analysis, and the required statistical analysis. The architecture provides remote shared operation of an inverted optical microscope, and couples instrument operation with images acquisition and annotation. The information is stored in an object-oriented database. The algorithms extract structural information such as morphology and organization, and map it to functional information such as inter-cellular responses. An example of usage of this system is included.