Mobile Medical Lab — the $10 Phone Microscope

kkleiner writes "Aydogan Ozcan of UCLA has developed a microscope attachment for a cell phone – turning the device into a sort of mobile medical lab. It's both lightweight (~38g or 1.5 oz) and cheap (parts cost around $10). The cellphone microscope can analyze blood and saliva samples for microparticles, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and water borne parasites. Ozcan and his team have recently won three prestigious awards for the device: a Grand Challenges award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (worth $100,000), the National Geographic Emerging Explorer award (worth $10,000), and the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation ($400,000). With these funds, Ozcan plans on starting case studies in Africa to see how the microscope can help revolutionize global medicine."

Comments

tricorder

[Foofoobar]

And the tricorder has been invented. Dammit Jim, I'm playing Tetris not examining blood cells!

Re:tricorder

[Gilmoure]

Check out these Lab-On-A-Chip setups. They're getting real close to chemical analysis tricorders.

Re:Medical Usefulness Overstated?

[wurp]

Just to point out, sickle cell is common _because_ malaria is common. Having one copy of the recessive gene that causes sickle cell improves immune function against malaria.

So malaria disproportionally killed people who didn't have the sickle cell gene before they bred.