Programmable multimodality microscope for automated cell culture monitoring in cell therapy

In contemporary cell therapy, long-term, multimodal observation of cell morphology using various microscopy techniques has become an indispensable process. Current cell observation methods are limited by traditional optical microscopy, which requires frequent mechanical switching and sample repositioning. These limitations reduce the precision and accuracy of data collection and increase the complexity and cost of quality inspection tool of a cell culture production line. We present a programmable microscope based on spatial light modulation capable of performing brightfield, darkfield, phase contrast, and DIC imaging without any mechanical switching. The microscope can capture images of all modes within one second. In addition, this new microscope employs light field modulation to fuse features from different imaging modes into a single imaging modality (Fused imaging), thereby providing higher-information-content images for subsequent AI-based recognition tasks. Therefore, applying this innovative microscope to long-term live cell observation scenarios will greatly improve imaging efficiency and accuracy, while also simplifying the complexity and reducing costs of the entire cell culture production line for quality inspection.