Neural-network based picking

nextPYP implements semi-supervised particle picking using neural-networks both for 2D micrographs and 3D tomograms

Step 1: Pick particles for training

  • Click inside the Pre-processing block and go to the Micrographs tab

  • Create a new list by entering a name and clicking New

  • Select particles in the current micrograph by clicking on their centers

  • Navigate to other micrographs in the dataset and select additional particles as needed

Create new filter
  • Click inside the Pre-processing block, go to the Tilt-series tab, and select the Reconstruction group

  • Create a new list by entering a name and clicking New

  • Select particles in the current tomogram by clicking on their centers. Use the slider below the image to scroll through the tomogram

  • Navigate to other tomograms in the dataset and select additional positions as needed

Create new filter

Note

  • Particles can be deleted by right-clicking on the markers

  • Particle positions are saved automatically every time a particle is added or deleted

  • The total number of particles in a dataset is displayed on the top-left corner of the page

Tip

The size of the markers can be controlled by changing the Detection radius in the Particle detection tab. The block must be re-run for this change to take effect

Step 2: Train the neural-network model

  • Open the settings of the Pre-processing block, go to the Particle detection tab and select nn-train as the Detection method

  • Choose the list of manually selected positions from the Select list for training dropdown menu at the top of the form

Create new filter
  • Go to the Training/Evaluation tab and set the desired parameters for training

Create new filter
  • Click Save, then Run to train the model

Note

Since training is run using the GPU, a GPU partition must be configured in the nextPYP instance

Step 3: Run inference using the trained model

  • Go to the Particle detection tab in the Pre-processing block and select nn-eval as the Detection method

  • Go to the Training/Evaluation tab and select the location of the trained model obtained in the previous step (train/YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS/*.training for 2D, and train/YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS/*.pth for 3D)

  • Click Save, then Run to evaluate the model on all the micrographs or tomograms

  • Inspect the results using the Micrographs tab (2D) or the Reconstruction group in the Tilt-series tab (3D)

Tip

Since the quality of the picking may depend on the size of the training set, challenging datasets may require the use of more particles for training