Machine learning issues and opportunities in ultrafast particle classification for label-free microflow cytometry

Rapid classification of micro-particles using multi-angle dynamic light scatting and machine learning approach

The rapid classification of micro-particles has a vast range of applications in biomedical sciences and technology. In the given study, a prototype has been developed for the rapid detection of particle size using multi-angle dynamic light scattering and a machine learning approach by applying a support vector machine. The device consisted of three major parts: a laser light, an assembly of twelve sensors, and a data acquisition system. The laser light with a wavelength of 660 nm was directed towards the prepared sample. The twelve different photosensors were arranged symmetrically surrounding the testing sample to acquire the scattered light. The position of the photosensor was based on the Mie scattering theory to detect the maximum light scattering. In this study, three different spherical microparticles with sizes of 1, 2, and 4 μm were analyzed for the classification. The real-time light scattering signals were collected from each sample for 30 min. The power spectrum feature was evaluated from the acquired waveforms, and then recursive feature elimination was utilized to filter the features with the highest correlation. The machine learning classifiers were trained using the features with optimum conditions and the classification accuracies were evaluated. The results showed higher classification accuracies of 94.41%, 94.20%, and 96.12% for the particle sizes of 1, 2, and 4 μm, respectively. The given method depicted an overall classification accuracy of 95.38%. The acquired results showed that the developed system can detect microparticles within the range of 1-4 μm, with detection limit of 0.025 mg/ml. Therefore, the current study validated the performance of the device, and the given technique can be further applied in clinical applications for the detection of microbial particles.