2017
Cell lineages describe the developmental history of cell populations and are produced by combining time-lapse imaging and image processing. Biomedical researchers study cell lineages to understand fundamental processes such as cell differentiation and the pharmacodynamic action of anticancer agents. The interpretation of cell lineages is hindered by their complexity. This work presents an interactive visualisation technique for cell lineages, combining visual summaries of the spatiotemporal behaviour of an arbitrary number of lineages, including variation from average behaviour, with node-link representations that emphasise the presence or absence of symmetry and synchrony. A case study determined the cytotoxic action of the anticancer drug topotecan. A survey of visualisation for live cell imaging followed. The work was done with biologists at Cardiff University School of Medicine, during a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Leeds.