Cell and nuclei annotation for pathology AI

Label individual cells, nuclei, and cellular regions in whole-slide images. Create reviewed pathology datasets with precise geometry and a shared cellular annotation protocol.
Cell & Nuclei Analysis example with source-data annotations and contextual photographs.

Create cellular training evidence in slide context

Move from broad tissue context to the cells and nuclei your model needs to learn.
Pathology cells and nuclei with structure-aligned instance segmentation masks.

Nuclei outlines

Outline individual nuclei with consistent boundary rules for detection and segmentation examples.
Histology with point annotations marking cell centers.

Cell location labels

Mark discrete cell locations or regions using the geometry required by your cellular detection task.
Histology cells annotated with epithelial and inflammatory classes.

Cell phenotype labels

Assign task-defined cell categories such as epithelial or inflammatory to the cellular regions your specialists identify.
Histology with gland boundaries outlined.

Gland and cellular structures

Outline glandular or other task-defined cellular structures when the dataset requires regions beyond individual nuclei.

Why AI Teams Choose Unitlab

Bring pathology annotation, shared ontologies, expert review, and dataset delivery into one workflow so your team can focus on useful training data.
15X
Faster Pathology Annotation
60%
Free Up AI Engineers’ Time
5X
Lower AI Development Costs

Annotation types for cell & nuclei analysis

Match each cellular or tissue task to precise outlines, masks, points, and structured annotation properties.
Histology with point annotations marking cell centers.

Cell points and regions

Use point locations or labeled regions to represent individual cells according to your model’s target format.

Nuclei contours

Trace nuclear boundaries with polygons or masks for tasks that require cellular shape information.

Pathology cells and nuclei with structure-aligned instance segmentation masks.

Cell & Nuclei Analysis FAQs

What is cell and nuclei annotation?

It labels individual cellular structures in pathology images so models can learn where they are, which class they belong to, or how their boundaries are shaped.

Can I annotate both cell locations and boundaries?

Yes. Use points or regions for location tasks and contours or masks when your model requires more detailed shape labels.

Can I define different cell classes?

Yes. Your ontology can define the cellular categories and properties required by the annotation protocol.

Can annotators zoom into a whole-slide image?

Yes. The tiled slide viewer supports navigation across large images and close inspection of cellular details.

Does annotation automatically count cells for a clinical score?

The workflow creates reviewed cellular labels that can support downstream analysis. Counting rules and clinical scoring should be defined and validated by your team.

How should overlapping or uncertain nuclei be labeled?

Document how boundaries and uncertain examples should be handled, then use specialist review to resolve the cases before release.

Which whole-slide image formats can I annotate?

Supported inputs include SVS, AVS, NDPI, SCN, BIF, SVSLIDE, tiled TIFF, and single-file OME-BigTIFF slides. Tiled navigation lets teams inspect large slides at different zoom levels.

How can pathology experts review the labels?

Reviewers inspect cellular or tissue boundaries in slide context, discuss uncertain regions, and return corrections through the configured workflow. Shared classes keep the annotation protocol consistent.

Are slide coordinates preserved in exported annotations?

Yes. Pathology labels retain the original full-resolution raster coordinate space. Supported formats include COCO, YOLO, and Unitlab Unified Export Format, depending on the annotation data you need.