ByoTrack is a Python library that enables tracking of biological object in videos (2D or 3D).

Many bioimage informatics tools already implement their own tracking tools (Icy [1], ImageJ [6], ...) but most of them are implemented in Java which makes it difficult for non-Java developers to experiment with the code. It is also difficult to integrate deep learning algorithms (mainly developed in Python) into these software.

We provide a unified python API for tracking that can be easily extended with new (and old) algorithms. We also provide implementations of well-known algorithms following our API. ByoTrack is based on numpy, pytorch and numba allowing fast computations with the access to the full python ecosystem.

Overview:

• Video
  • Able to read most classical format (supported by opencv) + tiff
  • Supports 2D and 3D.
• Particle Tracking
  • MultiStepTracker (Detect / Link / Refine)
• Particle Detections
  • Wavelet Detector [2] (Similar as the one in Icy [1] but coded in pytorch)
  • Stardist [3] (Inference only. Training should be done with the official implementation)
• Particle Linking
  • Nearest neighbors using optical flow, kalman filters or both (KOFT) [9]
  • EMHT [4] (Wraps the implementation in Icy [1], requires Icy to be installed)
  • u-track / TrackMate [7] (Wraps the TrackMate [6, 8] implementation in ImageJ/Fiji, requires Fiji to be installed)
• Tracks Refining
  • Cleaning
  • EMC2 [5]: Track stitching (gap closing)
  • Interpolate missing positions
• Optical Flow
  • Support for Open-CV and Scikit-Image algorithms. Can be used for particle linking, track stitching and interpolations.

$ pip install byotrack

Some tracker implementations require additional dependencies that are not installed with the library, to use them you need to install their dependencies on your own. Here is the complete list:

• StarDistDetector
  • stardist (+ tensorflow): Install stardist
• KalmanLinker & KOFTLinker
  • torch_kf: Install torch-kf
• IcyEMHTLinker
  • Icy: Download Icy
  • Spot Tracking Blocks plugin: Install an Icy plugin
• TrackMateLinker
  • Fiji: Download Fiji
  • tifffile: Install tifffile
• SkimageOpticalFlow
  • scikit-image: Install scikit-image

For visualization, with byotrack.visualize module you need to install matplotlib.

import byotrack

# Load some specific implementations
from byotrack.implementation.detector.wavelet import WaveletDetector
from byotrack.implementation.linker.icy_emht import IcyEMHTLinker
from byotrack.implementation.refiner.cleaner import Cleaner
from byotrack.implementation.refiner.stitching import EMC2Stitcher

# Read a video from a path, normalize and aggregate channels
video = byotrack.Video(video_path)
transform_config = VideoTransformConfig(aggregate=True, normalize=True, q_min=0.01, q_max=0.999)
video.set_transform(transform_config)

# Create a multi step tracker
## First the detector
## Smaller scale <=> search for smaller spots
## The noise threshold is linear with k. If you increase it, you will retrieve less spots.
detector = WaveletDetector(scale=1, k=3.0, min_area=5)

## Second the linker
## Hyperparameters are automatically chosen by Icy
linker = IcyEMHTLinker(icy_path)

## Finally refiners
## If needed you can add Cleaning and Stitching operations
refiners = []
if True:
    refiners.append(Cleaner(5, 3.5))  # Split tracks on position jumps and drop small ones
    refiners.append(EMC2Stitcher())  # Merge tracks if they track the same particle

tracker = byotrack.MultiStepTracker(detector, linker, refiners)

# Run the tracker
tracks = tracker.run(video)

# Save tracks
byotrack.Track.save(tracks, output_path)

Please refer to the official documentation.

In coming...

@article{hanson2024automatic,
  title={Automatic monitoring of neural activity with single-cell resolution in behaving Hydra},
  author={Hanson, Alison and Reme, Raphael and Telerman, Noah and Yamamoto, Wataru and Olivo-Marin, Jean-Christophe and Lagache, Thibault and Yuste, Rafael},
  journal={Scientific Reports},
  volume={14},
  number={1},
  pages={5083},
  year={2024},
  publisher={Nature Publishing Group UK London}
}

• [1] F. De Chaumont, S. Dallongeville, N. Chenouard, et al., "Icy: an open bioimage informatics platform for extended reproducible research", Nature methods, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 690–696, 2012.
• [2] J.-C. Olivo-Marin, "Extraction of spots in biological images using multiscale products", Pattern Recognition, vol. 35, no. 9, pp. 1989–1996, 2002.
• [3] U. Schmidt, M. Weigert, C. Broaddus, and G. Myers, "Cell detection with star-convex polygons", in Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention–MICCAI 2018: 21st International Conference, Granada, Spain, September 16-20, 2018, Proceedings, Part II 11. Springer, 2018, pp. 265–273.
• [4] N. Chenouard, I. Bloch, and J.-C. Olivo-Marin, "Multiple hypothesis tracking for cluttered biological image sequences", IEEE transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, vol. 35, no. 11, pp. 2736–3750, 2013.
• [5] T. Lagache, A. Hanson, J. Perez-Ortega, et al., "Tracking calcium dynamics from individual neurons in behaving animals", PLoS computational biology, vol. 17, pp. e1009432, 10 2021.
• [6] J. Schindelin, I. Arganda-Carreras, E. Frise, et al., "Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis", Nature Methods, 9(7), 676–682, 2012.
• [7] K. Jaqaman, D. Loerke, M. Mettlen, et al., "Robust single-particle tracking in live-cell time-lapse sequences.", Nature Methods, 5(8), 695–702, 2008.
• [8] J.-Y. Tinevez, N. Perry, J. Schindelin, et al., "TrackMate: An open and extensible platform for single-particle tracking.", Methods, 115, 80–90, 2017.
• [9] R. Reme, A. Newson, E. Angelini, J.-C. Olivo-Marin and T. Lagache, "Particle tracking in biological images with optical-flow enhanced kalman filtering", in International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI2024).