Reconstructing cell cycle and disease progression using deep learning.

Journal: Nature communications
PMID:

Abstract

We show that deep convolutional neural networks combined with nonlinear dimension reduction enable reconstructing biological processes based on raw image data. We demonstrate this by reconstructing the cell cycle of Jurkat cells and disease progression in diabetic retinopathy. In further analysis of Jurkat cells, we detect and separate a subpopulation of dead cells in an unsupervised manner and, in classifying discrete cell cycle stages, we reach a sixfold reduction in error rate compared to a recent approach based on boosting on image features. In contrast to previous methods, deep learning based predictions are fast enough for on-the-fly analysis in an imaging flow cytometer.The interpretation of information-rich, high-throughput single-cell data is a challenge requiring sophisticated computational tools. Here the authors demonstrate a deep convolutional neural network that can classify cell cycle status on-the-fly.

Authors

  • Philipp Eulenberg
    Helmholtz Zentrum München-German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Computational Biology, Neuherberg, Munich, Germany.
  • Niklas Köhler
    Clinical Infectious Diseases, Research Center Borstel, Borstel, Germany.
  • Thomas Blasi
    Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Computational Biology, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
  • Andrew Filby
    Flow Cytometry Core Facility, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK. Electronic address: Andrew.Filby@newcastle.ac.uk.
  • Anne E Carpenter
    The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, United States. Electronic address: anne@broadinstitute.org.
  • Paul Rees
    Imaging Platform at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 415 Main St, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; College of Engineering, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
  • Fabian J Theis
    Institute of Computational Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany.
  • F Alexander Wolf
    Helmholtz Zentrum München-German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Computational Biology, Neuherberg, Munich, Germany. alex.wolf@helmholtz-muenchen.de.