Integrative Co-Registration of Elemental Imaging and Histopathology for Enhanced Spatial Multimodal Analysis of Tissue Sections through TRACE

Abstract

Summary: Elemental imaging provides detailed profiling of metal bioaccumulation, offering more precision than bulk analysis by targeting specific tissue areas. However, accurately identifying comparable tissue regions from elemental maps is challenging, requiring the integration of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) slides for effective comparison. Facilitating the streamlined coregistration of Whole Slide Images (WSI) and elemental maps, TRACE enhances the analysis of tissue regions and elemental abundance in various pathological conditions. Through an interactive containerized web application, TRACE features real time annotation editing, advanced statistical tools, and data export, supporting comprehensive spatial analysis. Notably, it allows for comparison of elemental abundances across annotated tissue structures and enables integration with other spatial data types through WSI coregistration. Availability and Implementation: Available on the following platforms- GitHub: jlevy44/trace_app, PyPI: trace_app, Docker: joshualevy44/trace_app, Singularity: joshualevy44/trace_app.