Professor Aydogan Ozcan from UCLA souped up a Sony Ericsson cell phone with an optical system to do bacterial cell counts. It seems that using simple components and the built-in CCD lens of the camera phone, one can actually create a clinically useful mobile testing platform.
CNN reports:
The device is called LUCAS, which stands for lensless ultra-wide-field cell monitoring array platform based on shadow imaging. It uses a short wavelength blue light to illuminate a sample of liquid — blood, saliva or another fluid — on a laboratory slide.
LUCAS captures the image to a chip in the cell phone. If the phone is loaded with an algorithm program, it then counts the microparticles much faster than a human can. The image also can be transmitted wirelessly to a computer, which analyzes it and sends back a text message with the results.
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