News Finding: This adds to the growing list of AI uses.
Paper Finding: The results, which were obtained using a single feed-forward algorithm, exhibited important advantages such as the enhancement and restoration of fine spatial features, correction for the colour aberrations, and removal of noise artefacts and warping, introduced by the mobile phone microscope optical hardware/components.
News Context: "We believe that our approach is broadly applicable to other low-cost microscopy systems that use, for example, inexpensive lenses or cameras, and could facilitate the replacement of high-end bench-top microscopes with cost-effective, mobile alternatives." This adds to the growing list of AI uses. This specific tech is just an upgrade for smartphone cameras, but in parts of the world that are deprived of high-tech diagnostic technologies, it could be an inexpensive and easily available solution.
Paper Context: To conclude, we demonstrated the significant enhancement of low-resolution, noisy, distorted images of various specimens acquired by a cost-effective, smartphone-based microscope by using a deep learning approach. The results, which were obtained using a single feed-forward algorithm, exhibited important advantages such as the enhancement and restoration of fine spatial features, correction for the colour aberrations, and removal of noise artefacts and warping, introduced by the mobile phone microscope optical hardware/components. For samples that naturally include height/depth variations, such as Pap smear samples, we also observed the advantage of DOF extension with respect to the images of a benchtop microscope with a higher NA.