If you’re working with 3D cancer tissue data and trying to better understand how cells interact, Cell2Cell is a tool you’ll want to explore. Developed by NCI-funded researchers, Cell2Cell is a novel, visual analytics tool that helps you quantify and visualize networks of cell-to-cell interactions directly within high-resolution, multi-channel tissue data sets.

Cell2Cell allows you to analyze the actual levels and distributions of specific proteins within the cells and their surroundings, rather than simply looking at how close cells are to each other (which lower-resolution 2D models do).

Cell2Cell offers two semi-automated approaches to help you manage the complexity and size of imaging data:

• Cell Graph Analysis: Cells function like nodes in a network, and edges represent their interactions. Cell2Cell automatically analyzes protein marker intensities along these edges, allowing you to create interaction profiles. You can explore via spatial 3D visualizations and more abstract, comparative views.
• Cell-Centered Protein Polarization: The focus is on the individual cell. In three dimensions, you can visualize how proteins are distributed within and around a cell.

Corresponding author, Dr. Eric Mörth, shared, “We designed our tool to aid domain experts in advancing their understanding of the intricate mechanisms underlying cellular interactions in the context of cancer and immunology research.”