[Asis-l] Far From a Lab? Turn a Cellphone Into a Microscope

[gerrymck]

Colleagues/

Although there was only limited promotion of thisitem, there seems to
be great interest in the post, if the number of visits is any
indication.

I hope it will be of interest to others as well.

/Gerry

 NYTimes / November 7 2009 / ANNE EISENBERG

MICROSCOPES are invaluable tools to identify blood and other cells
when screening for diseases like anemia, tuberculosis and malaria. But
they are also bulky and expensive.

Now an engineer, using software that he developed and about $10 worth
of off-the-shelf hardware, has adapted cellphones to substitute for
microscopes.

[snip]

The adapted phones may be used for screening in places far from
hospitals, technicians or diagnostic laboratories, Dr. Ozcan said.

In one prototype, a slide holding a finger prick of blood can be
inserted over the phone’s camera sensor. The sensor detects the
slide’s contents and sends the information wirelessly to a hospital or
regional health center. [snip]

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.”

[more]

Links To Full Story With Photo/Image  Available At

[ http://tinyurl.com/ylal5rv  ]

 I Am Greatly interested In Other SmartPhone Appliances; Please Add As
A Comment On The Posting.

Thanks A Million !!!

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu

There Is No Answer, Only Solutions / Olde Irish Saying

The Future Is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed
Attributed To William Gibson, SciFi Author / Coined 'Cyberspace