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Third AI4Life Open Call: 
Announcement of selected projects

by Florian Jug & Beatriz Serrano-Solano

The third AI4Life open call received 28 applications from diverse scientific disciplines.

We are again distinguishing two phases, a consultancy phase, and a project execution phase. This is to maximize the value of our service to the scientific community by providing feedback (e.g. feasibility, existing tools, approaches we would take) to a larger number of projects, and then taking on a small number of projects for more in-depth support based on informed opinions of experts regarding the readiness of the project (as we also did last year).

The selection of projects, for both phases, was conducted by an international group of project reviewers, similar to the procedure we conducted in OC2.

Projects selected for Phase 1: Project Consultation

1 – Mechanism of action of insecticidal proteins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria

3 – Improving nuclei segmentation using Cellprofiler and StarDist

10 – Feeding or Fading? Automated image analysis of white corals’ behavior to unlock natural patterns, stress responses, and conservation needs responses, and conservation needs

11 – 3D Matrix Motility Map (3DM³)

14 – The speed of life in trees — linking wood anatomy with wood lifespan and tree growth

17 – Imprints of Wind Disturbances  on Wood Anatomy

18 – Detection of Nuclear Pore Complexes with shape variability imaged by DNA PAINT

19 – Segmentation of sparse bacteria in human tissue

23 – Smart electron tomography data acquisition

24 – Determine the interaction between neutrophils and preneoplastic cells in a zebrafish skin tumour initiation model

25 – Scalable high-dimensional subcellular profiling in 3D

26 – Automatic microtubule doublet picking in tomograms

27 – 3D cell type identification in lung organoids

Please note that projects with IDs 1 and 24 did not respond to our invitation for consultation even after multiple reminders. Hence, we conducted consultations on a total of 10 projects.

Consultation sessions were typically conducted with between three to five AI4Life experts and consisted of a one-hour discussion during which the experts could ask additional questions regarding the project and then provide guidance regarding the feasibility of the respective projects. Along with this kind of “reality check”, the experts also aimed at giving tangible advice on existing tools and methods that might help the consulted researchers in improving their workflows and achieving the desired analysis results.

Projects selected for Phase 2: Deep Learning project support

With the additional information from the consultancy phase at hand, the group of AI4Life experts came together and discussed the most promising projects to be taken on in Phase 2 (deep-learning support). As last year, this decision was guided by a combination of project feasibility, readiness, re-usability by the community, and how well each project fits within the experiences and capabilities of the AI4Life team itself. These considerations were combined with the intention to maximize the utility and impact on the bioimage analysis community of this Open Call.

3 – Improving nuclei segmentation using Cellprofiler and StarDist

10 – Feeding or Fading? Automated image analysis of white corals’ behavior to unlock natural patterns, stress responses, and conservation needs responses, and conservation needs

11 – 3D Matrix Motility Map (3DM³)

14 – The speed of life in trees — linking wood anatomy with wood lifespan and tree growth

17 – Imprints of Wind Disturbances  on Wood Anatomy

18 – Detection of Nuclear Pore Complexes with shape variability imaged by DNA PAINT

19 – Segmentation of sparse bacteria in human tissue

26 – Automatic microtubule doublet picking in tomograms

Who was involved in the process?

In contrast to last year, we conducted the pre-screening and selection for the consultancy phase within AI4Life and did not include external reviewers.

If you missed our open calls and would like to benefit from a similar service, we recommend Euro-BioImaging’s Web Portal, where you can access a network of experts in the field of image analysis. You can also find a bioimage analyst in your geographic and scientific area in the GloBIAS database of bioimage analysts. Please note that this service may involve associated costs, but access funds for certain research topics are available through some initiatives. We and Euro-Bioimaging will be happy to help you find suitable opportunities!