Huygens Object Tracker tracks the movement of cells and particles in time series images. By manually selecting just a few objects and background regions, the machine learning algorithm in the Object Tracker is sufficiently trained to automatically detect new objects and to track these. Tracks can be filtered based on specific parameters, edited, and analyzed with the included Track Analyzer. Various properties of the measured tracks are presented in informative graphs and can be exported.

Train machine learning algorithm with a few objects and background region.
Detect objects using brightness and other features.
Define thresholds on the number of objects, brightness, and width.
Use object geometry and orientation for connecting tracks.
Quick edit tracks (remove, break, connect).
Export tracks to Track Analyzer.
Save track detection settings to a template file to re-use.
Save tracks for future analysis in the Track Analyzer.

Visualize the MIP projection over time.
Find tracks that might need to be connected or split.
Find large objects that were incorrectly detected as two touching objects.
Add missed objects to tracks.
Analyze position; distance from track origin as histogram and time-plot, Mean Squared Displacement (MSD), and Diffusion Coefficient
Analyze speed; histogram, average speed, and x vs y velocity scatter plot.
Analyze flow; transport through a surface, defined using a line/poly-line in a Z-projection. Plot flux vs. time.
Analyze intensity of objects over time.
Analyze axial rotation and 3D angular speed of objects.
Export data to CSV file for any further analysis in e.g. Excel and Matlab.
Export graphs to EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) file.

Use in research

D. Marks, N. Heinen, L. Bachmann et al. Amyloid precursor protein elevates fusion of promyelocytic leukemia nuclear bodies in human hippocampal areas with high plaque load.
After Huygens Deconvolution, 3D motion of nuclear bodies was studied with the Huygens Object Tracker.
Acta Neuropathol. Commun. 9, 66 (2021)


C. Eich, J. Arlt, C.S. Vink et al. In vivo single cell analysis reveals Gata2 dynamics in cells transitioning to hematopoietic fate.
Huygens was used for deconvolution, drift correction, and cell tracking.
J Exp Med 215(1), 233–248 (2018)

For more, see Scientific Publications

Related product

To track the movement of individual objects, it may be necessary to correct for sample drift with the Huygens Object Stabilizer.

Object stabilizer

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More information

Live Cell imaging
Support page
Object Tracker webinar