Increasing a microscope's effective field of view via overlapped imaging and machine learning

Opt Express. 2022 Jan 17;30(2):1745-1761. doi: 10.1364/OE.445001.

Abstract

This work demonstrates a multi-lens microscopic imaging system that overlaps multiple independent fields of view on a single sensor for high-efficiency automated specimen analysis. Automatic detection, classification and counting of various morphological features of interest is now a crucial component of both biomedical research and disease diagnosis. While convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have dramatically improved the accuracy of counting cells and sub-cellular features from acquired digital image data, the overall throughput is still typically hindered by the limited space-bandwidth product (SBP) of conventional microscopes. Here, we show both in simulation and experiment that overlapped imaging and co-designed analysis software can achieve accurate detection of diagnostically-relevant features for several applications, including counting of white blood cells and the malaria parasite, leading to multi-fold increase in detection and processing throughput with minimal reduction in accuracy.

MeSH terms

  • Erythrocytes / parasitology*
  • Hemeproteins
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Leukocyte Count / methods*
  • Leukocytes / cytology*
  • Machine Learning*
  • Neural Networks, Computer
  • Parasite Load
  • Plasmodium falciparum / cytology*
  • Plasmodium falciparum / isolation & purification

Substances

  • Hemeproteins
  • hemozoin