Histological Staining Area Quantification
1.0

Workflow Type: Galaxy

This workflow performs colour deconvolution and automated thresholding to quantify stained area in brightfield histological images (MT, IHC). It accepts whole slides or pre-cropped ROIs.

Associated Tutorial

This workflows is part of the tutorial Quantitative Analysis of Histological Staining Using Color Deconvolution, available in the GTN

Features

Thanks to...

Workflow Author(s): Diana Chiang Jurado

Tutorial Author(s): Diana Chiang Jurado

Tutorial Contributor(s): Leonid Kostrykin

Funder(s): University of Freiburg

Grants(s): NFDI4Bioimage

gtn star logo followed by the word workflows

Inputs

ID Name Description Type
ROI image for staining analysis ROI image for staining analysis Brightfield histological image (whole slide or pre-cropped ROI) for staining quantification. Compatible stainings include Masson's Trichrome and IHC. Accepted format: TIFF.
  • File[]

Steps

ID Name Description
1 Sample ID Add Sample ID column name . toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/bgruening/text_processing/tp_text_file_with_recurring_lines/9.5+galaxy3
2 header for total area toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/bgruening/text_processing/tp_text_file_with_recurring_lines/9.5+galaxy3
3 Stain intensity normalization (CLAHE) Normalizes pixel intensity across images using CLAHE (Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization) to reduce staining variability before color deconvolution. toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/imgteam/2d_histogram_equalization/ip_histogram_equalization/0.25.2+galaxy0
4 Show image info toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/imgteam/image_info/ip_imageinfo/8.0.0+galaxy0
5 Color Deconvolution Performs colour deconvolution using the H-E-DAB (HED) transformation, separating the image into individual stain channels. Channel 1 = Hematoxylin, Channel 2 = Eosin/target stain, Channel 3 = Residuals. Higher pixel intensity indicates lower stain concentration. toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/imgteam/color_deconvolution/ip_color_deconvolution/0.9+galaxy0
6 Width Extraction Grep1
7 Height Extraction Grep1
8 Split Image Channels for Staining Detection Splits multi-channel image into single-channel images. Extracts the target stain channel from the split image collection. Default index: 1 (Channel 2). Verify this corresponds to your stain of interest before running the workflow. The pixel data type is preserved. toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/imgteam/split_image/ip_split_image/2.3.5+galaxy1
9 Text transformation toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/bgruening/text_processing/tp_sed_tool/9.5+galaxy3
10 Text transformation toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/bgruening/text_processing/tp_sed_tool/9.5+galaxy3
11 Collection: Extract Stain Channel from Sub-Collections This step extracts the second image (usually the relevant stain channel) from each sub-collection in a collection of collections. Please verify the selected channel is correct before proceeding. The current index is set to extract dataset 2. __EXTRACT_DATASET__
12 Paste Paste1
13 Threshold Stain Channel Collection Applies a threshold to the selected stain channel to segment stained areas for quantification. Tool only process tiff files with 1 channel. toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/imgteam/2d_auto_threshold/ip_threshold/0.25.2+galaxy0
14 Compute toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/devteam/column_maker/Add_a_column1/2.1+galaxy0
15 Generate ROIs of stained region This step detects CD11b positive regions from the binary mask and generates polygon ROIs for each stained blob. ROIs can be uploaded to OMERO for visual validation of the threshold. toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/imgteam/imagej2_analyze_particles_binary/imagej2_analyze_particles_binary/20240614+galaxy1
16 Extract Image Features Extracts quantitative features (e.g., mean intensity) from the thresholded image to support staining analysis. toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/imgteam/2d_feature_extraction/ip_2d_feature_extraction/0.25.2+galaxy1
17 Cut Cut1
18 Prepare Header Source Dataset Extracts a dataset that will be used to obtain the header row for the final concatenated tabular file in a subsequent step. __EXTRACT_DATASET__
19 Extract Show tail1
20 Extract element identifiers toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/iuc/collection_element_identifiers/collection_element_identifiers/0.0.3
21 Collapse Collection toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/nml/collapse_collections/collapse_dataset/5.1.0
22 Header Extraction Extracting header from source dataset to use in the final tabular file. Show beginning1
23 Collapse Collection into one file Allows to collapse a collection of tabular files with the individual samples quantification into one tabular file. toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/nml/collapse_collections/collapse_dataset/5.1.0
24 Concatenate datasets toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/bgruening/text_processing/tp_cat/9.5+galaxy3
25 Paste header with Sample ID Combined the Sample ID with the header of the remaining columns. Paste1
26 Paste Sample Names with Tabular Results This step joins a list of sample names with their corresponding quantification results. It pastes both files side by side, ensuring that each sample name is aligned with the correct row of the quantification table. Paste1
27 Tabular: Staining Feature Results This final output file contains the merged measurement results for all samples, and can be used for further statistical analysis. cat1
28 Paste Paste1
29 Percent area computation Computes the proportion of positive signal area relative to total image area, expressed as percentage. toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/devteam/column_maker/Add_a_column1/2.1+galaxy0

Outputs

ID Name Description Type
Deconvolved Image Deconvolved Image n/a
  • File
Collection: Individual Deconvolved Channels Collection: Individual Deconvolved Channels n/a
  • File
Selected Stain Channel Selected Stain Channel n/a
  • File
Selected Stain Channel Thresholded Selected Stain Channel Thresholded n/a
  • File
ROIs ROIs n/a
  • File
ROIs Image ROIs Image n/a
  • File
Collection of Tabular: Staining Quantification Results Collection of Tabular: Staining Quantification Results n/a
  • File
Tabular File: Staining Feature Results Tabular File: Staining Feature Results n/a
  • File

Version History

1.0 (earliest) Created 15th Jun 2026 at 16:08 by GTN Bot

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Created: 15th Jun 2026 at 16:08

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