We’re used to our mobile phones doubling up as other gadgets and performing numerous tasks. Nowadays, with the so called SmartPhones we can access the internet, check our emails listen to music, watch and record videos, take photos and so much more.
The advantage of having the ability to do all sorts of things on our phone means of course that we don’t have to carry around other devices such as a digital camera, a music player, or a laptop or netbook.
So how about a mobile phone that can double up as microscope? Ok so it might sound a bit random but this sort of gadget could come in really handy. Imagine being able to take a sample of blood and make a diagnosis when located some distance away from a hospital or surgery.
A gadget like this could reveal the presence of diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria or could identify if an individual is suffering from anaemia.
Such a gadget is exactly what one engineer created using software he developed himself and hardware costing only $10 that was easily bought off the shelf.
The brain behind the mobile come microscope device or cellscope as it is called is Aydogan Ozcan, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, who has created a company called Microskia to commercialise these types of products.
“We convert cellphones into devices that diagnose diseases,” said Ozcan, in a report in the New York Times. Ozcan is also a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California.
Once the phone has detected the information, the data can be wirelessly sent to a hospital.
What’s really special about the device is that there are no lenses; the magnification part is performed electronically using cheap light emitting diodes.
When the light waves hit the cells in the sample they create a pattern (hologram) which can then be analysed.
“We can learn a lot in seconds,” said Dr Ozcan. “We can process the information mathematically and reconstruct images like those you would see with a microscope” He said.
Assistant professor of physics at the University, Ahmet Yildiz says it’s a simple solution to a complex problem.
“This is an inexpensive way to eliminate a microscope and sample biological images with a basic cellphone camera instead” he said.
“If you are in a place where getting to a microscope or medical facility is not straightforward, this is a really smart solution.”
It sure is!
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