MicroSplit : semantic unmixing of fluorescent microscopy data
Summary
Fluorescence microscopy is constrained by optical limits, fluorophore chemistry and finite photon budgets, imposing trade-offs between imaging speed, resolution and phototoxicity. Here we introduce Micro S plit , a deep learning-based computational multiplexing method that enables multiple cellular structures to be imaged simultaneously in a single fluorescent channel and then computationally unmixed. We show that M i c r o S p l i t separates up to four superimposed noisy structures into distinct, denoised image channels, enabling faster and more photon-efficient imaging. Built on Variational Splitting Encoder-Decoder networks, M i c r o S p l i t models a posterior distribution over solutions, allowing uncertainty-aware predictions and the estimation of spatially resolved prediction errors from posterior variability. We demonstrate robust performance across diverse datasets, noise levels and imaging conditions, and show that M i c r o S p l i t improves downstream analysis while reducing photon exposure. All methods, data and trained models are released as open resources, enabling immediate adoption of computational multiplexing in biological imaging. © 2026. The Author(s).
| Authors | Ashesh A, Carrara F, Zubarev I, Galinova V, Croft M, Pezzotti M, Gong D, Casagrande F, Colombo E, Giussani S, Restelli E, Cammarota E, Battagliotti JM, Klena N, Di Sante M, Adhikari R, Feliciano D, Pigino G, Taverna E, Harschnitz O, Maghelli N, Scherer N, Dalle Nogare DE, Deschamps J, Pasqualini F, Jug F |
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| Journal | Nature methods |
| Publication Date | 2026 May;23(5):1047-1057 |
| PubMed | 42086917 |
| PubMed Central | PMC13167470 |
| DOI | 10.1038/s41592-026-03082-1 |