WormLab User Guide

Version 2026

Take a tour of WormLab software.

What's new

View the current Release Notes or see all Release Notes.

Train your own custom detectors using animal-pose estimation tools

WormLab version 2026 introduces the Train workflow for creating AI detectors that use computer vision to identify and track objects in videos. Your custom detectors can be used alongside the WormLab worm-tracking engine, enabling you to conduct more complex experiments, even multi-species detection and tracking.

The new Train workflow guides you through the process; it includes:

  • Training region selection: Focus your annotation effort on specific frames or regions of the video.

  • Animal pose definition: Define anatomical keypoints and how they connect to represent the posture of the organism or object.

  • Data annotation: Establish ground truth in the selected frames by labeling the keypoints and connections using a streamlined annotation interface. Detector training:

  • Detector training: Train custom detectors for you objects of interest using the annotated data, then use them for automated detection and tracking in WormLab.

  • Refine detectors: Employ active learning to iteratively refine detectors for effectiveness in your research conditions.

Benefits of custom detectors

Train custom detectors specific for your unique research needs with species-agnostic, user-friendly tools that leverage animal-pose estimation methodology.

Custom detectors integrate directly with existing WormLab detection, tracking, and analysis tools. Track multiple organisms or objects simultaneously, using the WormLab C. elegans tracking system in conjunction with your custom detectors.

Maintain object identity over time, even when animals overlap, or exhibit complex motion or occlusion.

New object colocalization analysis tool

Detect interactions or events between different tracked objects using the new object colocalization analysis module.

  • Measure spatial and temporal overlap between any detected object types.

  • Identify biologically meaningful events based on object proximity. For example, detect egg-laying events by identifying when a worm overlaps with the start of a new egg track.

  • Find behavioral events in complex datasets more easily; colocalization results integrate with existing analysis, filtering, and visualization tools.

New data acquisition tool: Segmented recording with user-defined intervals

Automatically capture recordings in repeating segments, separated by defined time intervals. This is ideal for long experiments where continuous recording is unnecessary or where periodic sampling is preferred.

With segmented recording, you define the segment duration, the interval between recording segments, and the total experiment duration.

Previous versions

Licensing

  • New floating license option available that increases your flexibility by enabling you to run WormLab on different computers with a single license. Please note: Floating licenses require a current software upgrade and support subscription and internet access. Click here to renew your subscription.

General

  • Batch Processing Enhancements

    • Videos may be directly added to the tracking queue.

    • A previously saved configuration can apply the same tracking parameters to multiple videos in the tracking queue.

  • Expanded the Configuration Manager to save/load labels in addition to tracking parameters.

  • Added Apply button to test Head/Tail detection settings. This enables you to immediately see the results of head/tail detection without having to complete tracking.

  • Improved support for videos with variable keyframe intervals enables faster/smoother scrolling through videos

  • Free-hand contour label option enables flexible delineation of user-defined regions of interest

  • Added support for macOS Big Sur

  • Added option to specify a fixed com port for systems where auto scanning ports may fail

  • Measuring tool for scaling may be drawn at any angle

  • WormLab Explorer, an analysis-only licensing option is now available (contact sales@mbfbioscience.com for details)

Video Recording

  • New, more efficient video encoder improves encoding speed and decreases file size

  • Increased available buffer to support fast frame rate recording using high resolution cameras

  • Added support for latest Basler cameras. Pylon version 6.2.0 or later is required.

  • Peristaltic distance and speed metrics better describe worms predominantly moving in reverse

  • Pirouette analysis has been added

  • The track summary now includes cumulative mobility forward, idle, and reversal times

  • Improved handling of large datasets

Video Playback

  • New option in Video playback controls to help optimize performance of videos with variable keyframe intervals. This can enable faster/smoother scrolling through videos.

Detection & tracking

  • Back tracking is now optimized significantly, improving throughput.

  • Head/tail assignment utilizes predominant movement direction for low resolution videos

  • Default values for overlap/interaction tracking are now based on video frame rate

  • Enhanced Multiple Hypotheses Tracking algorithm for improved tracking through entanglements, coiling and self-overlap.

Repair

  • Added tools to easily remove non-worm objects from data sets

  • New ability to assign a specific ID to a worm track

  • Automatically join discontinuous worm tracks based on user-defined shape and position tolerances

  • Easily audit tracking results with navigation tools to quickly jump to key events in a worm track (e.g. track start, termination, entanglements or self-overlap)

  • Worm re-indexing is now reflected in the Repair tab

    Learn about repair tools.

Analysis

  • Added Integral Measurement (Full/Positive/Negative) to the Report tab of Bending Angles – Multiple analysis. This can be used to provide insights on the symmetry of the bending behavior of the worm.

  • New Label Overlap analysis reports time point when worm (head, midpoint, tail – user selectable) enter/exits a label region. This is useful for monitoring dwell time within a region of interest.

  • Enabled multiple projects selection and deletion in Group analysis.

  • Added Number of Omega Bends and Omega Bend Time to Track Summary analysis.