Curvelet analysis of kymograph for tracking bi-directional particles in fluorescence microscopy images

In this paper we present a new procedure for tracking bi-directional objects in kymographs. The proposed technique is based on a novel adaptive and directional band-pass filtering method which allows us to separate particles which move in opposite directions. The filtering method exploits the curvelet analysis of the kymograph image to automatically adapt to the objects trails characteristics and select oriented features. The separation of bi-directional objects in separated images allows us to reliably detect and track fluorescent particles in fluorescence image sequences, despite numerous crossroad points in the kymograph space. The new abilities provided by the proposed technique are highlighted by the analysis of biological images which were previously impossible to analyze reliably.