Predicting cellular pluripotency using contrast images

A method for characterizing pluripotency of a plurality of cells, the method comprising:

• obtaining a contrast image of the plurality of cells captured using optical microscopy;
• applying a predictive model to the contrast image, the predictive model configured to translate the contrast image to an intermediate mask representation comprising pluripotency predictions of immunofluorescence biomarker intensities for the plurality of cells in the contrast image;
• and
• generating pluripotency metrics for the plurality of cells according to the intermediate mask representation, the pluripotency metrics indicative of pluripotency of the plurality of cells,
• wherein the predictive model is trained with paired contrast images and immunofluorescent images, wherein the immunofluorescent images comprise immunofluorescence biomarker intensities indicative of expression profiles determined via RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization (RNA-FISH) or sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization (SeqFISH+).