Virtual staining systems and methods for observing one or more unstained cells

Abstract

Systems and methods for visualizing an unstained sperm cell are presented, the system comprises a data input utility that receives measured data comprising at least one quantitative phase microscopy image of the unstained sperm cell; a data processing utility comprising an image analyzer module that utilizes characteristic refractive index information of one or more organelles of the sperm cell, to process the at least one quantitative phase microscopy image and generate at least one corresponding gradient image that includes edge enhancement of the one or more organelles, and a virtual staining module that applies one or more predetermined virtual staining functions to the at least one quantitative phase microscopy image and at least one corresponding gradient image, thereby virtually stain at least one of the one or more organelles of the sperm cell and generate virtually stained image data of the sperm cell; and an output utility that utilizes the virtually stained image data of the sperm cell and generates one or more stained images of the unstained sperm cell, each stained image emulating an image of the sperm cell should the sperm cell has been actually stained with one or more actual stains.