Microscope extension for cameraphones

This low-cost solution is used for telemedicine applications in developing worlds, where access to cellphone networks are more prevalent.

D.N. Breslauer, R.N. Maamari, N.A. Switz, W.A. Lam, D.A. Fletcher, "Mobile Phone Based Clinical Microscopy for Global Health Applications", PLoS ONE 4(7): e6320, 2009. [Article]

Light microscopy provides a simple, cost-effective, and vital method for the diagnosis and screening of hematologic and infectious diseases. In many regions of the world, however, the required equipment is either unavailable or insufficiently portable, and operators may not possess adequate training to make full use of the images obtained. Counterintuitively, these same regions are often well served by mobile phone networks, suggesting the possibility of leveraging portable, camera-enabled mobile phones for diagnostic imaging and telemedicine. Toward this end we have built a mobile phone-mounted light microscope and demonstrated its potential for clinical use by imaging P. falciparum-infected and sickle red blood cells in brightfield and M. tuberculosis-infected sputum samples in fluorescence with LED excitation.