CellScope
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Scientists turn an iPhone into a blood parasite detector
Seeing a hematologist is a luxury that few people can afford in the poorest parts of Africa. That's why a team at UC Berkeley has adapted its iPhone microscope project to identify blood parasites in under three minutes. CellScope Loa is, essentially, a 3D-printed box that a smartphone can sit on top of, taking five-second videos of blood samples. The companion app then looks for signs of movement from the microscopic worms that, when left untreated, cause river blindness and elephantiasis.
iPhone 4 turned into a microscope via CellScope attachment
CellScope is a UC Berkeley project designed to enable microscopic image captures from a cell phone's camera. At first it might sound like a pointlessly geeky project to do microscopy on a cell phone, but in fact it has important applications for mobile health services in remote areas. In some areas of sub-Saharan Africa and other developing areas of the world, access to health care of any kind is scarce, and it often falls upon poorly-equipped doctors or volunteers to take up the slack. Since health care equipment is generally expensive to begin with, outfitting even a low-power microscope with a wireless transmitter capable of communicating with doctors at a remote location could easily run into the thousands of dollars. Not only that, but the equipment itself would likely be bulky, temperamental, and easily damaged. That's where CellScope comes in. Via an attachment, CellScope can turn a standard cell phone camera into a 5x to 50x microscope, essentially creating a miniaturized blood lab that can capture images and transmit them far more cheaply than traditional equipment. The iPhone 4 pictured above (courtesy of Scott Silverman) isn't the first mobile phone to be hooked into the CellScope rig, but with its high-quality camera and extensive photo sharing abilities, it might end up being the best mobile device for the job. Plus, viewing microscopic images on a Retina Display sounds like a great alternative to peering into one of those microscope eyepieces. This obviously won't replace traditional setups in a fully-equipped laboratory, but for the kind of remote and rural applications that CellScope covers, it sounds like an ideal solution.
CellScope, the cellphone microscope, gets UV upgrade to spot tiny glowing things
It was over a year ago that UC Berkeley introduced the world to CellScope, the 60x microscope for cellphones made from cheap, off the shelf components (like a re-purposed belt clip). Now, even though we're disappointingly still not seeing this thing in stores, there's an upgraded version able to take pictures of even smaller nasties. Using a filter the scope can now spot microscopic critters tagged with dye that glows under fluorescent light -- things like Mycobacterium tuberculosis (that's the cause of TB if you, like us, lack a med degree). A software app is able to then count the number of cells within a given sample and tell you whether to worry about that annoying cough. There's still no word on whether this product will ever actually start scoping out such things in the wild, but we certainly hope it will -- if only so that we can keep our vast collection of cellphone accessories complete. Video after the break.[Via Crave]
Cellphone as microscope on the cheap, bugs beware
Go tech students! This handy idea, brought to you by the minds at University of California, Berkeley, brings up to a 60x microscope to your cell for roughly $75. The 60x attachment is useful for diagnosing things like Malaria while in the field, while its weaker 5x sibling can be used to look at skin conditions. The prototype was apparently made from off the shelf components -- including some low power LEDs that illuminate the subject -- and snaps in place with a modified belt clip. This is a pretty handy piece of kit when you consider how much easier it may be to snap a pic of something and fire it off to a lab via a data connection instead of having to physically bring a sample. We're sure the poor soul featured in the pic we have here agrees, as it looks like he / she may have a tiny shrimp infestation. [Via MAKE Blog]
