Includes references (67-77 p.)

'ABSTRACT Several biological processes and cellular mechanisms are affected by the increase in the intracellular calcium ions. These Ca2+ functions are essential encoding messengers from the beginning to the final moment of life. They act as second messengers to regulate gene transcription, cell proliferation, migration and death. Quantification and evaluation of Ca2+ swinging are critical for understanding the general idea of calcium ions signaling. The probable relationship of intracellular Ca2+ with metastasis in human tumor cells is insufficiently comprehended till these days. In this thesis Ca2+ oscillations in human breast malignancy cells of high metastatic capability in a relative approach will be contemplated, by building up a novel computational framework through applying image processing techniques. This system will have the ability to identify and track these cells and ascertain the intensity of the intracellular calcium oscillations happening. Conceivable implementations and results of the Ca2+ oscillations located or occurring within breast cancer cell will be considered. The objective of this research study was to utilize and benefit from computer simulation, and implement it in a PC based system to monitor the intracellular calcium ions activity in breast tumor cells and explore its intracellular calcium ions activity through image processing. The overall scope of the studies presented and the work done in this thesis, is in the interdisciplinary domain between biology, mathematics, and computer engineering, which is referred to as bioinformatics. The experimental trials were applied on group of colored images of breast cancer cells "MDA-MB-23" that have highly metastatic traits. The developed computational approach is able to display graphs of intensity in any region of interest in the image, thus showing the oscillatory manner of calcium ions through a period of time. Moreover, noticing the movement (metastatic potential) of the breast cancer cells. Key words: Calcium oscillations, Cancer, Metastasis, Breast cancer, Image processing, bioinformatics, cell tracking. '