Artificial Intelligence Converts 2D Images Into 3D Using Deep Learning [Video]

An illustration representing Deep-Z, an artificial intelligence-based framework that can digitally refocus a 2D fluorescence microscope image (at bottom) to produce 3D slices (at left). A University of California, Los Angeles research team has devised a technique that extends the capabilities of fluorescence microscopy, which allows scientists to precisely label parts of living cells and tissue with dyes that glow under special lighting. The researchers use artificial intelligence to turn two-dimensional images into stacks of virtual three-dimensional slices showing activity inside organisms. In a study published in Nature Methods on November 4, 2019, the scientists also reported that their framework, called "Deep-Z," was able to fix errors or aberrations in images, such as when a sample is tilted or curved. Further, they demonstrated that the system could take 2D images from one type of microscope and virtually create 3D images of the sample as if they were obtained by another, more advanced microscope.