CELL COUNTING METHOD AND SYSTEM
    92.
    发明公开

    公开(公告)号:EP4092631A1

    公开(公告)日:2022-11-23

    申请号:EP22173562.4

    申请日:2022-05-16

    摘要: A method and system are provided for illuminating and imaging a biological sample using a brightfield microscope for the purpose of counting biological cells. The method comprises the steps of, by a processing device: a. positioning a sample to be viewed by way of an objective lens of the microscope, and on an x-y plane at an x-y position of a plurality of x-y positions, the sample comprising a plurality of biological cells; b. capturing and storing, using an image capturing apparatus, one or more focal image stacks, each said focal image stack comprising a plurality of focal images of the sample positioned at the x-y position, each of the focal images in the focal image stack being captured at a different focal position of a plurality of discrete focal positions within a focal range, the focal range being located on a z plane perpendicular to the x-y plane; c. processing the one or more focal image stacks using a cell localisation neural network, the cell localisation neural network outputting a list of one or more cell locations, each said cell location corresponding to a cell characteristic determined by the cell localisation neural network; d. determining, using the list of cell locations, one or more cell focal image stacks, each cell focal image stack being obtained from the one or more focal image stacks; and e. processing the one or more cell focal image stacks using an encoder neural network, the encoder neural network outputting a list of cell fingerprints, each said cell fingerprint corresponding to a cell of the plurality of biological cells; f. determining, using the list of cell locations and the list of cell fingerprints, a number of cells within the sample. The present disclosure aims to provide a quick, non-invasive and reliable mode of counting biological cells.