Not able to select cells to start a tracking sequence

[mtageldein]

Hi,

I used CellMapTracer over the last few months and it has been very helpful to my live-cell imaging analyses so far. Thank you for creating such a user-friendly tool.

Recently, I can't seem to select cells to begin a tracking sequence. When I click on "Track Single Cell," the window that opens up the first image of the multipage-TIFF appears, then I select a cell, but once I hit enter to begin tracking that cell, the window disappears without opening the tracking window. At this point the "Track Single Cell" button becomes grey and I can't try to select another cell. I was working directly from my laptop (version 12.4 mac) on the CellMAPtracer app (the standalone executable program). When this started to happen, I uninstalled the app and reinstalled it on MATLAB, but the same thing happens when I use cellmaptracer as a MATLAB app.

I was wondering if this might be a bug or if anyone knows what causes this issue

Thank you,
Maha

[SystemsBiologist]

Hi Maha @mtageldein,

We are happy that you find CellMapTracer useful and sorry to hear about your problem. Most likely that the problem is coming from the TIFF file itself (too big? bad second image?)
We need some information to be able to solve the problem:

• Do you experience the same problem with other files or only with this one?
• Did you load already tracked cells or it happens on the first tracking cell?
• How big the multipage-TIFF file is?
  Maybe it will be easier if you include your email so @kmlnts can contact you directly!

Looking forward to hearing from you

Best,
Salim

[mtageldein]

Hi Salim,

The TIFF files I use are approximately 2GB, so they are pretty large.. This problem is now happening with all my tiff files, files that worked previously don't seem to work now. It happens on the first tracking cell but the first time I experienced this was during the middle of tracking, I was able to select cells at the beginning but couldn't select any more cells at one point. That would be great, my email is maha.mohamed@mail.utoronto.ca

Thank you

[wleoncio]

Adding e-mail message from OP, received on 2022-09-02:

Hi all,

I hope that this email finds you well! I am writing about a hiccup that I am facing with CellMAPtracer. It is thus far the most effective tracer for my live-cell work and I would love your help to be able to get it working for me again.

I am working on a mac and use the stand-alone app. My TIFF files are rather large (~2Gb). Previously, I could work with these large files up until early June when I started to face a glitch, I can't seem to select cells to begin a tracking sequence anymore.

When I click on "Track Single Cell," the window that opens up the first image of the multipage-TIFF appears, then I select a cell, however once I hit enter to begin tracking that cell, the window disappears without opening the tracking window. At this point the "Track Single Cell" button becomes grey and I can't try to select another cell.

This is what I have attempted, to no avail: uninstall/reinstall the app; install CellMAPtracer on MATLAB (same glitch occurs). If you have an idea what may be causing this on my end, I would really appreciate your help!

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards,
Maha

Also, paging @kmlnts who was the main developer of the software and might be able to help us debug this best. A couple of questions from myself:

1. Did CellMAPtracer stopped working right after a computer change or upgrade on your part?
2. Can you reproduce this issue on a different version of CellMAPtracer, particularly one on a different Operating System (Linux or Windows)?

[mtageldein]

Hi @wleoncio, sorry for the delayed response as I was getting CellMAPtracer installed on a new device. There was no computer change or upgrade before it stopped working. However I just installed CellMAPtracer on a Windows computer. Here, it worked well! There is a lag between the window where you select a cell and the window that opens up to start tracking that cell. This was also the point where it stops working for me on the Mac computer, but to answer your question, the issue was not reproducible on a different version/device.

[wleoncio]

Thank you for the follow up, @mtageldein. It's good news that the software works as expected on a different OS, hopefully that doesn't disturb your workflow too much.

Even if you didn't get the exact same behavior on Windows and macOS, there does seem to be something off even on Windows, so that could be the first place to debug. @kmlnts, do you know which functions are involved in that part ("between the window where you select a cell and the window that opens up to start tracking that cell")?