SIMBA: an agentic AI platform for single-molecule multi-dimensional imaging
Advances in multi-dimensional imaging method and probe developments have brought super-resolution fluorescence microscopy into a functional era. They capture additional single-molecule fluorescence information concurrently with spatial localization, enabling simultaneous identification of molecular species and interrogation of nanoscale environments with rich, high-dimensional imaging information. However, the adoption of multi-dimensional imaging has been hindered by fragmented analysis workflows, complex parameter tuning, and limited integration of advanced computational methods. Here, we introduce an agentic s ingle-molecule m ulti-dimensional b ioimaging A I, referred to as SIMBA, an AI-driven platform that unifies single-molecule localization, spectral processing and deep learning-based denoising within a single agentic and interactive framework. SIMBA incorporates large language model-based agents capable of interpreting user intent, orchestrating analysis pipelines, and dynamically selecting computational tools for automated data processing. We demonstrate that SIMBA enables supports standard single-molecule localization workflow, functional mapping of nanoscale environmental heterogeneity through single-molecule spectral analysis and denoising using developed supervised learning methods. By integrating extensible tool architectures with human language-guided workflows, SIMBA establishes a new paradigm for intelligent microscopy analysis, lowering barriers to multi-dimensional imaging adoption while enabling scalable, reproducible, and adaptive analysis of complex imaging datasets.
Authors
- Caroline Laplante (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8980-0271)
- Harsh Mauny
- Yang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1011-3001)
- Obblivignes KanchanadeviVenkataraman
- Dongkuan Xu
- Hongjing Mao
Institutions
- North Carolina State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-04-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.16.719005
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- North Carolina State University