HistoFlow: Label-Efficient and Interactive Deep Learning Cell Analysis

Instance segmentation is a common task in quantitative cell analysis. While there are many approaches doing this using machine learning, typically, the training process requires a large amount of manually annotated data. We present HistoFlow, a software for annotation-efficient training of deep learning models for cell segmentation and analysis with an interactive user interface. It provides an assisted annotation tool to quickly draw and correct cell boundaries and use biomarkers as weak annotations. It also enables the user to create artificial training data to lower the labeling effort. We employ a universal U-Net neural network architecture that allows accurate instance segmentation and the classification of phenotypes in only a single pass of the network. Transfer learning is available through the user interface to adapt trained models to new tissue types. We demonstrate HistoFlow for fluorescence breast cancer images. The models trained using only artificial data perform comparably to those trained with time-consuming manual annotations. They outperform traditional cell segmentation algorithms and match state-of-the-art machine learning approaches. A user test shows that cells can be annotated six times faster than without the assistance of our annotation tool. Extending a segmentation model for classification of epithelial cells can be done using only 50 to 1500 annotations. Our results show that, unlike previous assumptions, it is possible to interactively train a deep learning model in a matter of minutes without many manual annotations.