In situ Biological Particle Analyzer based on Digital Inline Holography

TL;DR

This paper presents a real-time, in situ biological particle analysis method using machine learning-enhanced digital inline holography, enabling accurate detection and classification of various microorganisms and particles with reduced processing time.

Contribution

It introduces a novel machine learning-assisted DIH technique with a customized YOLO v5 model for rapid, accurate in situ analysis of biological particles and cells.

Findings

High accuracy in plankton species classification

Effective differentiation of yeast metabolic states

Reduced processing time compared to previous methods

Abstract

Obtaining in situ measurements of biological microparticles is crucial for both scientific research and numerous industrial applications (e.g., early detection of harmful algal blooms, monitoring yeast during fermentation). However, existing methods are limited to offer timely diagnostics of these particles with sufficient accuracy and information. Here, we introduce a novel method for real-time, in situ analysis using machine learning assisted digital inline holography (DIH). Our machine learning model uses a customized YOLO v5 architecture specialized for the detection and classification of small biological particles. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method in the analysis of 10 plankton species with equivalent high accuracy and significantly reduced processing time compared to previous methods. We also applied our method to differentiate yeast cells under four metabolic states and from two strains. Our results show that the proposed method can accurately detect and differentiate cellular and subcellular features related to metabolic states and strains. This study demonstrates the potential of machine learning driven DIH approach as a sensitive and versatile diagnostic tool for real-time, in situ analysis of both biotic and abiotic particles. This method can be readily deployed in a distributive manner for scientific research and manufacturing on an industrial scale.