Exploring Bioimage Synthesis and Detection via Generative Adversarial Networks: A Multi-Faceted Case Study

Background:Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), thanks to their great versatility, have a plethora of applications in biomedical imaging with the goal of simulating complex pathological conditions and creating clinical data used for training advanced machine learning models. The ability to genera...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Valeria Sorgente, Dante Biagiucci, Mario Cesarelli, Luca Brunese, Antonella Santone, Fabio Martinelli, Francesco Mercaldo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Journal of Imaging
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2313-433X/11/7/214
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849406526406524928
author Valeria Sorgente
Dante Biagiucci
Mario Cesarelli
Luca Brunese
Antonella Santone
Fabio Martinelli
Francesco Mercaldo
author_facet Valeria Sorgente
Dante Biagiucci
Mario Cesarelli
Luca Brunese
Antonella Santone
Fabio Martinelli
Francesco Mercaldo
author_sort Valeria Sorgente
collection DOAJ
description Background:Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), thanks to their great versatility, have a plethora of applications in biomedical imaging with the goal of simulating complex pathological conditions and creating clinical data used for training advanced machine learning models. The ability to generate high-quality synthetic clinical data not only addresses issues related to the scarcity of annotated bioimages but also supports the continuous improvement of diagnostic tools. Method: We propose a two-step method aimed to detect whether a bioimage can be considered fake or real. The first step is related to bioimage generation using a Deep Convolutional GAN, while the second step involves the training and testing of a set of machine learning models aimed to distinguish between real and generated bioimages. Results: We evaluate our approach by exploiting six different datasets. We observe notable results, demonstrating the ability of Deep Convolutional GAN to generate realistic synthetic images for some specific bioimages. However, for other bioimages, the accuracy does not align with the expected trend, indicating challenges in generating images that closely resemble real ones. Conclusions: This study highlights both the potential and limitations of GAN in generating realistic bioimages. Future work will focus on improving generation quality and detection accuracy across different datasets.
format Article
id doaj-art-efe7e87d294b4665adfd7257e744fe9a
institution Kabale University
issn 2313-433X
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Journal of Imaging
spelling doaj-art-efe7e87d294b4665adfd7257e744fe9a2025-08-20T03:36:21ZengMDPI AGJournal of Imaging2313-433X2025-06-0111721410.3390/jimaging11070214Exploring Bioimage Synthesis and Detection via Generative Adversarial Networks: A Multi-Faceted Case StudyValeria Sorgente0Dante Biagiucci1Mario Cesarelli2Luca Brunese3Antonella Santone4Fabio Martinelli5Francesco Mercaldo6Department of Medicine and Health Sciences “Vincenzo Tiberio”, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, ItalyDepartment of Medicine and Health Sciences “Vincenzo Tiberio”, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, ItalyDepartment of Engineering, University of Sannio, 82100 Benevento, ItalyDepartment of Medicine and Health Sciences “Vincenzo Tiberio”, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, ItalyDepartment of Medicine and Health Sciences “Vincenzo Tiberio”, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, ItalyInstitute for High Performance Computing and Networking, National Research Council of Italy, 87036 Rende, ItalyDepartment of Medicine and Health Sciences “Vincenzo Tiberio”, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, ItalyBackground:Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), thanks to their great versatility, have a plethora of applications in biomedical imaging with the goal of simulating complex pathological conditions and creating clinical data used for training advanced machine learning models. The ability to generate high-quality synthetic clinical data not only addresses issues related to the scarcity of annotated bioimages but also supports the continuous improvement of diagnostic tools. Method: We propose a two-step method aimed to detect whether a bioimage can be considered fake or real. The first step is related to bioimage generation using a Deep Convolutional GAN, while the second step involves the training and testing of a set of machine learning models aimed to distinguish between real and generated bioimages. Results: We evaluate our approach by exploiting six different datasets. We observe notable results, demonstrating the ability of Deep Convolutional GAN to generate realistic synthetic images for some specific bioimages. However, for other bioimages, the accuracy does not align with the expected trend, indicating challenges in generating images that closely resemble real ones. Conclusions: This study highlights both the potential and limitations of GAN in generating realistic bioimages. Future work will focus on improving generation quality and detection accuracy across different datasets.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-433X/11/7/214GANconvolutional generative adversarial networkDCGANdeep convolutional generative adversarial networkdeep learningbioimages
spellingShingle Valeria Sorgente
Dante Biagiucci
Mario Cesarelli
Luca Brunese
Antonella Santone
Fabio Martinelli
Francesco Mercaldo
Exploring Bioimage Synthesis and Detection via Generative Adversarial Networks: A Multi-Faceted Case Study
Journal of Imaging
GAN
convolutional generative adversarial network
DCGAN
deep convolutional generative adversarial network
deep learning
bioimages
title Exploring Bioimage Synthesis and Detection via Generative Adversarial Networks: A Multi-Faceted Case Study
title_full Exploring Bioimage Synthesis and Detection via Generative Adversarial Networks: A Multi-Faceted Case Study
title_fullStr Exploring Bioimage Synthesis and Detection via Generative Adversarial Networks: A Multi-Faceted Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Bioimage Synthesis and Detection via Generative Adversarial Networks: A Multi-Faceted Case Study
title_short Exploring Bioimage Synthesis and Detection via Generative Adversarial Networks: A Multi-Faceted Case Study
title_sort exploring bioimage synthesis and detection via generative adversarial networks a multi faceted case study
topic GAN
convolutional generative adversarial network
DCGAN
deep convolutional generative adversarial network
deep learning
bioimages
url https://www.mdpi.com/2313-433X/11/7/214
work_keys_str_mv AT valeriasorgente exploringbioimagesynthesisanddetectionviagenerativeadversarialnetworksamultifacetedcasestudy
AT dantebiagiucci exploringbioimagesynthesisanddetectionviagenerativeadversarialnetworksamultifacetedcasestudy
AT mariocesarelli exploringbioimagesynthesisanddetectionviagenerativeadversarialnetworksamultifacetedcasestudy
AT lucabrunese exploringbioimagesynthesisanddetectionviagenerativeadversarialnetworksamultifacetedcasestudy
AT antonellasantone exploringbioimagesynthesisanddetectionviagenerativeadversarialnetworksamultifacetedcasestudy
AT fabiomartinelli exploringbioimagesynthesisanddetectionviagenerativeadversarialnetworksamultifacetedcasestudy
AT francescomercaldo exploringbioimagesynthesisanddetectionviagenerativeadversarialnetworksamultifacetedcasestudy