Systems and methods for detection and 3D imaging of cell junctions of blastocysts and other biological structures

A method for detecting and 3D imaging of cell junctions on a cell layer of a biological structure, the method comprising:

• rotating the biological structure through a set of orientations;
• capturing, at each orientation, a respective image of a corresponding one of a set of cell layer regions of the cell layer, wherein each cell layer region partly overlaps with at least another cell layer region, thereby obtaining a set of partially overlapping cell layer images;
• creating a cell layer texture map containing cell junction information from the set of cell layer images;
• and
• constructing a 3D image of the cell junctions based on the cell layer texture map and the cell junction information contained therein,
• wherein the set of partially overlapping cell layer images are pre-processed prior to performing an image matching and stitching operation, wherein pre-processing the set of partially overlapping cell layer images comprises:
• obtaining a group of simulated 2D images for at least one cell layer image of the set of partially overlapping cell layer images;
• and
• performing the image matching and stitching operation using the group of simulated 2D images;
• and
• wherein obtaining the group of simulated 2D images comprises:
• projecting the at least one cell layer image onto a virtual spherical surface;
• rotating the at least one cell layer image three-dimensionally along the virtual spherical surface to obtain a group of 3D images;
• and
• projecting the group 3D images back to 2D images to produce the group of simulated 2D cell layer images.