Systems and Methods for Assessing Cell Growth Rates

A method of facilitating a growth assessment for a cell line includes generating an image of a well that contains a medium that was inoculated with at least one cell of the cell line. The method also includes generating a down-sampled segmentation map comprising pixels that indicate an inferred presence or absence of a cell colony in corresponding portions of the well image. Generating the down-sampled segmentation map includes inputting the well image to a fully convolutional neural network having a plurality of convolutional layers. The method also includes (i) determining, by inputting colony size information (including the down-sampled segmentation map and/or a pixel count derived therefrom) to a cell growth assessment algorithm, a growth classification or score for the cell line, and causing a display of the growth classification or score, and/or (II) causing a display of the colony size information to facilitate a manual cell growth assessment.