CYBERTRACK

CYBERTRACK (CYtometry-Based Estimation and Reasoning for TRACKing cell populations) is a statistical software tool for analyzing time-series flow cytometry data. It enables the automatic detection and tracking of cell populations over time, which is crucial for understanding cell population dynamics that cannot be elucidated by static timepoint analysis.

Key features and functionalities of CYBERTRACK:

1. Clustering: CYBERTRACK assumes that flow cytometry data are generated from a multivariate Gaussian mixture distribution. Based on this assumption, it performs clustering to identify distinct cell populations.

2. Tracking cell populations: The software tracks the time-dependent transitions of mixture proportions, allowing users to monitor changes in cell populations over time. The mixture proportion at the current time is assumed to depend on that at the previous timepoint.

3. Change-point detection: CYBERTRACK can detect change-points in the overall mixture proportion, identifying significant shifts in cell population dynamics.

4. Performance evaluation: The software's performance has been evaluated using simulation data, assessing its ability to estimate parameters for a multivariate Gaussian mixture distribution, track time-dependent transitions of mixture proportions, and detect change-points.

5. Validation with real data: CYBERTRACK has been validated using two real flow cytometry datasets, demonstrating that the detected population dynamics are consistent with prior knowledge of lymphocyte behavior.