Turning a Smart Phone Into a Microscope 43
MTorrice writes "By attaching a lightweight, inexpensive device to the back of a smart phone, scientists can convert the phone into a sensitive fluorescence microscope. The attachment [paper abstract] allows the phone's camera to take pictures of single nanoparticles and viruses, possibly providing a portable diagnostic tool for health care workers in developing countries. For example, doctors in remote regions could use the technique to measure HIV viral loads in patients' blood samples, allowing the doctors to easily monitor disease progression and determine the best course of treatment."
Of course... (Score:4, Funny)
They could use the phone to call for expert help.
Re:Of course... (Score:4, Interesting)
Or the phone could diagnose the disease, or forward imagery on to some system which will do the same. That's why I got involved with infragram [infragram.org], in the hope that at some point I'll end up with a mobile device which can do the processing onboard. I had to say it, but this might actually be a decent excuse to use the Pi, with the camera module.
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the stage (Score:4, Insightful)
one of the smallest things in a microscope is the lens. most of the microscope is precision, vibration damped, gearing to manipulate the focal distance precisely. If you are going for high resolution its not yet clear to me how you avoid the expensive non-portable part of the microscope.
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one of the smallest things in a microscope is the lens. most of the microscope is precision, vibration damped, gearing to manipulate the focal distance precisely. If you are going for high resolution its not yet clear to me how you avoid the expensive non-portable part of the microscope.
Answering my own question: Been staring at their schematic diagram. What I think they are doing is relying on the thinness of thr sample to avoid having a long range over which to focus. then they are not worrying too much about the reproducible adjustment of the X and Y directions. this might let them get away with a precision casted fixed distance that could be trimmed to perfection over a small range then fixed.
Re:the stage (Score:4, Informative)
one of the smallest things in a microscope is the lens. most of the microscope is precision, vibration damped, gearing to manipulate the focal distance precisely. If you are going for high resolution its not yet clear to me how you avoid the expensive non-portable part of the microscope.
Don't forget, this isn't talking about a standard "microscope" but rather a "fluorescence microscope", which is actually a fairly different thing.
The linked article (and linked paper abstract) has images that give you an idea of what they're doing much better than TFA does.
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Don't forget, this isn't talking about a standard "microscope" but rather a "fluorescence microscope", which is actually a fairly different thing.
No it isn't.
They are basically exactly the same and the widefield fluorescence microscopes can operate in both normal and fluorescence mode. Fluorescence microscopes have an additional filter cube in the beamline so you can focus the incident light using the same optics as the image and to filter out the reflected light so that only the fluorescent light reaches t
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Don't forget, this isn't talking about a standard "microscope" but rather a "fluorescence microscope", which is actually a fairly different thing.
No it isn't.
I disagree, it is a fairly different thing when you're talking about miniaturising it. I could stick a lens onto a phone cam and call it a microscope but it's not so trivial to turn a phone into a compact fluorescence microscope. You can't just whack in a Olympus filter cube, you need to think it through a little more. These guys have done a pretty good job of miniaturising the fluorescence microscope. As you say, the resolution is shitty (probably because objective NA is small). I can't see a use for the
Nice, but... (Score:2)
attaching lenses to camera produces microscope... (Score:3)
...may have benefit where microscopes are useful.
Developments at 11!
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Fluorescent imaging involves shining excitation light of a specific wavelength at the sample, and filtering out any light but the emission spectrum light. THEN there's the lens. Build your own fluorescent microscope and I'd be impressed. Build your own fluorescent microscope that can fit in your pocket, and that's actually an achievement.
At least, I think it is, compared the usual slashdot stories. "OMG, the next android is going to be named KIT KAT!!!!"
Re: attaching lenses to camera produces microscope (Score:2)
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Can't... take... the STUPID! (Score:3)
By "device", you mean... A fluorescence microscope? Camera works as camera??? Whoah, major breakthrough, dude!
Hey! What do you suppose would happen if, instead of using a $300 phone as a camera (with all its controls inconveniently under the device), we used a $20 USB webcam?
Pinky, bring me the yak!
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It is not so stupid as it sounds. Yes, they basically attached a fluorescent microscope. However, there was some engineering involved and there area some benefits over a web cam.
- Built in capabilities.
- connectivity allowing for remote diagnoses, software upgrades etc
- phone providing very large range of travel and maintaining data access
- storage of image can be linked with other patient data
- OS for automatic analysis
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None of these things differentiate a smartphone from a notebook PC with a cabled webcam and a notebook would be superior in many ways.
"Very large range of travel" is not a feature of a smartphone, is it simply capable of enabling that. Other devices are too, namely devices a webcam connects to.
Not sure how you consider these points you made to be "engineering" either.
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With fluorescent microscopes, researchers can detect and study important biomolecules or single cells that they’ve labeled with fluorescent dyes. But the instruments are bulky and expensive, says Aydogan Ozcan at the University of California, Los Angeles. As a result, people with limited resources, such as those in developing countries, often don’t have access to these diagnostic tools.
Why is it with every story on slashdot that is ACTUALLY ABOUT SCIENCE, there's some guy here talking uninformed trash on it?
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Yes, actually - I've even used one.
Why is it with every story on slashdot that is ACTUALLY ABOUT SCIENCE, there's some guy here talking uninformed trash on it?
I think you might have mistaken my criticism as pointed in the wrong direction. The "story", as presented, does contain complete trash. The real story here involves these folks making a lightweight, portable fluorescence microscope
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Cheers!
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It certainly is a microscope. It can build up an image out of those dots. The real question is what is the true resolution and are there meaningful applications for that resolution. Plenty of interesting things can be found without high resolution, so there needs to value provide the resolution. Those tiny dots are blurring to about 2 um. Individual cells are roughly 4 to 8 um range. So you can probably spot individual cells. This is a lot more valuable with second image, either transmitted light or a secon
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"Those tiny dots are blurring to about 2 um. Individual cells are roughly 4 to 8 um range. So you can probably spot individual cells."
Assuming good optics and sufficient magnification, neither of which is inherently a properly of smartphone cameras. It is quite difficult to achieve meaningful resolution down to the photosite level of a sensor and smartphones don't make that a goal.
Talking resolution in the absence and many important details is something a fool would do. Love the hand-waving, though, it ma
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It seems to me there is information there. A tiny particle blurs to 2 um. Hence it clear that you can't meaningfully distinguish between to particles less then roughly 1 um. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm [cambridgeincolour.com]. However, if the particles are 4 um apart I can definitely distinguish them. I am sure I can do this because if I look at the image present, the dot is blurred, meaning there are multiple pixel for the single spot. Sure it is possible the that the image is super zoom
Wow (Score:3)
I attached a football to my smartphone and turned my smartphone into a football.
Not in the US of A (Score:5, Informative)
These diagnostic patents are all held and defended by the American drug company cartels who hold the world ransom. Same thing applies to the detection of the breast cancer gene, that is why you only see the wealthy being tested for this indicator gene, then deciding to have their breasts removed if they inherited the gene. Nothing is holding back the rapid advancement of diagnostics more than the drug company cartels and they need to be broken up permanently the same way standard oil was dealt with!
All well and good developing cheap portable diagnostic devices but if ideas like, doing assay by the software counting a specific shape can be individually patented per shape and are then held ransom by crooked corporations with cooked up patents these devices will be far too expensive to do any good at all.
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You've just brought up one of those inconvenient realities that are generally swept under the rug and don't make it into any kind of public discussion. I wasn't aware of this until the breast cancer gene thing a few years back and one link lead to another kind of thing. Holding health hostage may make for profit but not friends. Eventually enough enemies can overturn the idiocy. Well, we can hope. A bunch of complacent coupon clippers condemning people to death to help support their opulent lifestyle r
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These diagnostic patents are all held and defended by the American drug company cartels who hold the world ransom. Same thing applies to the detection of the breast cancer gene, that is why you only see the wealthy being tested for this indicator gene, then deciding to have their breasts removed if they inherited the gene. Nothing is holding back the rapid advancement of diagnostics more than the drug company cartels and they need to be broken up permanently the same way standard oil was dealt with!
Myriad no longer has a monopoly on the BRAC breast cancer markers: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/supreme-court-strikes-down-breast-cancer-gene-patent-175640515.html [yahoo.com] They may keep fighting this, but this patent is crumbling. Where is your link for the HCV test? Physical image shape sounds like something you'd need EM to do. What's stopping people from tagging virus particle with fluorescent antibodies and then counting the green dots with a light microscope? No software patent needed to count dots.
Next "Killer" App (Score:1)
Introducing... Instagerm
Word Processor and Reader for Microsoft Office. (Score:1)
Word Processor and Reader for Microsoft Office. (Score:1)