Summary of research

The objective of CBA is to carry out research and education in computerized image analysis and perceptualization, both within image processing as such and with the goal of developing better methods, algorithms and systems for applications primarily within biomedicine and forestry.

We are pursuing this objective through a large number of research projects, ranging from fundamental mathematical methods development to application-tailored developments and testing, the latter mainly in biomedicine and forestry. We are also developing new methods for perceptualization, combining computer graphics, haptics and image processing in new ways.

Our research is organized in a large number of projects (54) of varying size, ranging in effort from a few person months to several person years. There is a lot of interaction between different researchers; generally a person is involved in several different projects in different constellations with internal and external partners. In this context, the university affiliation of the particular researchers seldom is of importance.

On the theoretical side, most of our work is based on discrete mathematics with fundamental work on skeletons, distances and tessellations in three and more dimensions. Another fruitful theoretical foundation is fuzzy methods.

Several projects deal with light microscopy, developing tools for modern quantitative biology and clinical cancer detection and grading. We are collaborating with local biologists and pathologists as well as with research centers in the US and India, and a Danish company.

We also work with electron microscopy (EM) images; one application is focused on finding viruses in EM images. Here the vast search area and the small size of the target structures create great challenges. We are also developing methods for studying the 3D shape of large molecules based on electron tomography. This work was presented in a PhD thesis this year.

Another imaging modality, providing 3D images of small structure, is X-ray micro-tomography. We are developing methods to use such images to study the internal structure of paper and composites, trabecular bone, and of bone-implant integration.

On a macroscopic scale we are working with interactive segmentation of 3D CT and MR images. We have developed a segmentation toolbox, WISH, which is publicly available. Part of this work also involves haptic interaction, and we have started a large interdisciplinary project aiming at a new generation haptic system, a glove with which a user can feel and manipulate virtual objects in the same manner in which he/she would manipulate a real object.

Results from our project most clearly related to forestry, the estimation of timber quality from cameras mounted under harsh conditions in saw mills, was presented in a PhD thesis this year.

Please, see Section  for details on our interesting research projects.

Another activity bridging over between research and education is supervision of master thesis projects. This year we completed a dozen such projects. In Section , we describe these theses.