# BlurryScope enables compact, cost-effective scanning microscopy for HER2 scoring using deep learning on blurry images

**Authors:** Michael John Fanous, Christopher Michael Seybold, Hanlong Chen, Nir Pillar, Aydogan Ozcan

PMC · DOI: 10.1038/s41746-025-01882-x · NPJ Digital Medicine · 2025-08-06

## TL;DR

BlurryScope is a low-cost, compact microscope that uses deep learning to analyze blurry images for HER2 scoring in breast cancer tissue.

## Contribution

A novel compact and cost-effective microscope using deep learning on blurry images for automated HER2 scoring in pathology.

## Key findings

- BlurryScope achieves 79.3% accuracy for 4-class HER2 classification on 284 patient cores.
- The system reaches 89.7% accuracy for 2-class HER2 classification.
- BlurryScope automates scanning, stitching, cropping, and classification workflows.

## Abstract

We developed a rapid scanning optical microscope, termed “BlurryScope”, that leverages continuous image acquisition and deep learning to provide a cost-effective and compact solution for automated inspection and analysis of tissue sections. This device offers comparable speed to commercial digital pathology scanners, but at a significantly lower price point and smaller size/weight. Using BlurryScope, we implemented automated classification of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) scores on motion-blurred images of immunohistochemically (IHC) stained breast tissue sections, achieving concordant results with those obtained from a high-end digital scanning microscope. Using a test set of 284 unique patient cores, we achieved testing accuracies of 79.3% and 89.7% for 4-class (0, 1+, 2+, 3+) and 2-class (0/1+, 2+/3+) HER2 classification, respectively. BlurryScope automates the entire workflow, from image scanning to stitching and cropping, as well as HER2 score classification.

## Linked entities

- **Genes:** ERBB2 (erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2) [NCBI Gene 2064]
- **Diseases:** breast cancer (MONDO:0004989)

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** ERBB2 (erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2) [NCBI Gene 2064] {aka CD340, HER-2, HER-2/neu, HER2, MLN 19, MLN-19}
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

5 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12325710/full.md

## References

3 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12325710/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12325710