FLIM Playground: Interactive Data Extraction and Analysis of Single Cells with FLIM

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) offers cellular-resolution molecular imaging, yet workflows from raw photon decays to biological insight remain fragmented across multiple extraction steps and siloed analyses.

Zhao presents FLIM Playground, the first interactive graphical platform that unifies single-cell FLIM workflows, embeds user checks, and provides flexible user options. Built in Python and open-source, it runs as a ready-to-use application on major operating systems and is web-deployable.

Its data extraction section collects field-of-view metadata, performs IRF- or standard-based calibration, and extracts single-cell lifetime, morphology, and texture features, with interfaces for merging datasets and assigning categorical labels. The Data Analysis section enables real-time visual analytics for outputs from data extraction or user-provided datasets. Lifetime fitting and phasor methods were validated against commercial and published results and demonstrated on cancer cell lines. FLIM Playground accelerates hypothesis-driven discovery, promotes reproducibility, and supports future modular extensions.

About the presenter
Wenxuan Zhao is a system programmer at the Skala lab of the Morgridge Institute for Research. He holds bachelor's and master’s degrees in computer science from the University of California, Davis, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research interests include data analysis, data visualization, and building intelligent systems for analyzing imaging data.