# PhaseStain: Digital staining of label-free quantitative phase microscopy images using deep learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.07701 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.07701/

## Key facts

- Cited by 41 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 20 Jul 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 41)

- [Deep Learning-enabled Virtual Histological Staining of Biological Samples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.06822/) (2022)
- [Label-free virtual HER2 immunohistochemical staining of breast tissue using deep learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.05240/) (2021)
- [On the use of deep learning for phase recovery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.00942/) (2023)
- [Uncertainty Quantification via Neural Posterior Principal Components](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15533/) (2023)
- [Self-supervised learning of hologram reconstruction using physics consistency](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.08288/) (2022)
- [Virtual stain transfer in histology via cascaded deep neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.06578/) (2022)
- [Virtual staining of defocused autofluorescence images of unlabeled tissue using deep neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.02946/) (2022)
- [Virtual histological staining of unlabeled autopsy tissue](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.00920/) (2023)
- [StainDiffuser: MultiTask Dual Diffusion Model for Virtual Staining](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.11340/) (2024)
- [Multispectral Quantitative Phase Imaging Using a Diffractive Optical Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.02952/) (2023)
- [Structural Cycle GAN for Virtual Immunohistochemistry Staining of Gland Markers in the Colon](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.13182/) (2023)
- [VIMs: Virtual Immunohistochemistry Multiplex staining via Text-to-Stain Diffusion Trained on Uniplex Stains](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.19113/) (2024)
- [Virtual birefringence imaging and histological staining of amyloid deposits in label-free tissue using autofluorescence microscopy and deep learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.09100/) (2024)
- [Pixel super-resolved virtual staining of label-free tissue using diffusion models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.20073/) (2024)
- [Digital staining in optical microscopy using deep learning -- a review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08140/) (2023)
- [Diffractive Interconnects: All-Optical Permutation Operation Using Diffractive Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.10152/) (2022)
- [A robust and scalable framework for hallucination detection in virtual tissue staining and digital pathology](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.18458/) (2024)
- [Deformation equivariant cross-modality image synthesis with paired non-aligned training data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.12491/) (2022)
- [Physical model simulator-trained neural network for computational 3D phase imaging of multiple-scattering samples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.15795/) (2021)
- [A generative adversarial approach to facilitate archival-quality histopathologic diagnoses from frozen tissue sections](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.10550/) (2021)
- [Automated Whole Slide Imaging for Label-Free Histology using Photon Absorption Remote Sensing Microscopy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.13736/) (2023)
- [Multiplane Quantitative Phase Imaging Using a Wavelength-Multiplexed Diffractive Optical Processor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.11035/) (2024)
- [Scalable, Trustworthy Generative Model for Virtual Multi-Staining from H&E Whole Slide Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.00098/) (2024)
- [Differentiable Microscopy Designs an All Optical Phase Retrieval Microscope](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.14944/) (2022)
- [From Hours to Seconds: Towards 100x Faster Quantitative Phase Imaging via Differentiable Microscopy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11521/) (2022)
- [HoechstGAN: Virtual Lymphocyte Staining Using Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.06909/) (2022)
- [Unsupervised Deep Digital Staining For Microscopic Cell Images Via Knowledge Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.02057/) (2023)
- [Single color digital H&E staining with In-and-Out Net](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.13278/) (2024)
- [Single Exposure Quantitative Phase Imaging with a Conventional Microscope using Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.04388/) (2024)
- [Label-free evaluation of lung and heart transplant biopsies using tissue autofluorescence-based virtual staining](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.05255/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Using a deep neural network, we demonstrate a digital staining technique, which we term PhaseStain, to transform quantitative phase images (QPI) of labelfree tissue sections into images that are equivalent to brightfield microscopy images of the same samples that are histochemically stained. Through pairs of image data (QPI and the corresponding brightfield images, acquired after staining) we train a generative adversarial network (GAN) and demonstrate the effectiveness of this virtual staining approach using sections of human skin, kidney and liver tissue, matching the brightfield microscopy images of the same samples stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin, Jones' stain, and Masson's trichrome stain, respectively. This digital staining framework might further strengthen various uses of labelfree QPI techniques in pathology applications and biomedical research in general, by eliminating the need for chemical staining, reducing sample preparation related costs and saving time. Our results provide a powerful example of some of the unique opportunities created by data driven image transformations enabled by deep learning.