Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40779582›Full record

ArticlePLoS computational biology2025

A neural network model enables worm tracking in challenging conditions and increases signal-to-noise ratio in phenotypic screens.

Weheliye H Weheliye, Javier Rodriguez, Luigi Feriani, Avelino Javer, Virginie Uhlmann, André E X Brown

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS computational biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. High-Throughput Toxicity Screening withEnvironmental science & technology · 2026
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Automated analysis ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Weheliye H WeheliyeMRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, London, United Kingdom.
Javier RodriguezMRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, London, United Kingdom.
Luigi FerianiMRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-6349-7833
Avelino JaverMRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, London, United Kingdom.
Virginie UhlmannEuropean Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
André E X BrownMRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-1324-8764

Funding

Medical Research Council MC-A658-5TY30
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

High-resolution posture tracking of C. elegans has applications in genetics, neuroscience, and drug screening. While classic methods can reliably track isolated worms on uniform backgrounds, they fail when worms overlap, coil, or move in complex environments. Model-based tracking and deep learning approaches have addressed these issues to an extent, but there is still significant room for improvement in tracking crawling worms. Here we train a version of the DeepTangle algorithm developed for swimming worms using a combination of data derived from Tierpsy tracker and hand-annotated data for more difficult cases. DeepTangleCrawl (DTC) outperforms existing methods, reducing failure rates and producing more continuous, gap-free worm trajectories that are less likely to be interrupted by collisions between worms or self-intersecting postures (coils). We show that DTC enables the analysis of previously inaccessible behaviours and increases the signal-to-noise ratio in phenotypic screens, even for data that was specifically collected to be compatible with legacy trackers including low worm density and thin bacterial lawns. DTC broadens the applicability of high-throughput worm imaging to more complex behaviours that involve worm-worm interactions and more naturalistic environments including thicker bacterial lawns.

Indexed as

Caenorhabditis elegansNeural Networks, ComputerAlgorithmsAnimalsComputational BiologyDeep LearningLocomotionPhenotypeSignal-To-Noise Ratio

Identifiers

PMID40779582
PMCPMC12360645

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.