xSCYTE: Express Single-frame Cytometer through Tomographic Phase

Abstract: Rapid, comprehensive, and accurate cell phenotyping without compromising viability, is crucial to many important biomedical applications, including stem-cell therapy, drug screening, and liquid biopsy. Typical image cytometry methods acquire two-dimensional (2D) fluorescence images, where the fluorescence labelling process may damage living cells, and the information from 2D images is not comprehensive enough for precise cell analysis. Although three-dimensional (3D) label-free image cytometry holds great promise, its high throughput development faces several technical challenges. Here, we report eXpress Single-frame CYtometer through Tomographic phasE (xSCYTE), which reconstructs 3D Refractive Index (RI) maps of cells with diffraction-limited resolution. With these high-speed and high-precision imaging capabilities empowered by artificial intelligence, we envision xSCYTE may open up many new avenues of biomedical investigations and industries, such as multi-omic assays and quality control during cellular therapeutic manufacturing.