Atlas registration involves several computational steps:
- Section detection — identify the tissue boundary and orientation
- AP-level estimation — determine which atlas plate best matches the section based on morphological features
- Affine alignment — rotate, scale, and translate the atlas to roughly match the section
- Non-rigid deformation — warp the atlas boundaries to account for tissue shrinkage, tearing, or compression
- Region projection — transfer atlas labels onto every pixel of the experimental image
PanoBrain performs this entire process automatically with one click, handling common tissue artifacts like tears, folds, and missing pieces.