AUTHOR=Chen Cindy X. , Park Han Sang , Price Hillel , Wax Adam TITLE=Automated Classification of Breast Cancer Cells Using High-Throughput Holographic Cytometry JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.759142 DOI=10.3389/fphy.2021.759142 ISSN=2296-424X ABSTRACT=Characterization of circulating tumor cells with quantitative phase imaging could provide a unique approach for identifying early biomarkers for cancer. However, current QPI cytometers have limitations which can prevent their use on heterogeneous tumor cell populations. Here we present our holographic cytometry approach applied to identifying carcinogen-exposed cells, namely, Cadmium-treated breast epithelial cells, in contrast to normal and cancerous cells. Based on single-cell phase images collected in high throughput by the holographic cytometer, we analyze the biophysical properties of different cell lines to discriminate by phenotype. Both phenotypic profiling and deep learning show comparable high accuracy levels and reveal key defining biophysical cellular features.