Real-time fluorescence imaging flow cytometry enabled by motion deblurring and deep learning algorithms

Fluorescence imaging flow cytometry (IFC) has been demonstrated as a crucial biomedical technique for analyzing specific cell subpopulations from heterogeneous cellular populations. However, the high-speed flow of fluorescent cells leads to motion blur in cell images, making it challenging to identify cell types from the raw images. In this study, we present a real-time single-cell imaging and classification system based on a fluorescence microscope and deep learning algorithm, which is able to directly identify cell types from motion-blur images. To obtain annotated datasets of blurred images for deep learning model training, we developed a motion deblurring algorithm for the reconstruction of blur-free images. To demonstrate the ability of this system, deblurred images of HeLa cells with various fluorescent labels and HeLa cells at different cell cycle stages were acquired. The trained ResNet achieved a high accuracy of 96.6% for single-cell classification of HeLa cells in three different mitotic stages, with a short processing time of only 2 ms. This technology provides a simple way to realize single-cell fluorescence IFC and real-time cell classification, offering significant potential in various biological and medical applications.