A special lens designed by a group of researchers at the University of California at Berkeley can turn a regular camera phone into a powerful microscope camera capable of taking photo of bacteria in florescent light.
Dong Ngo
CNET editor Dong Ngo has been involved with technology since 2000, starting with testing gadgets and writing code for CNET Labs' benchmarks. He now manages CNET San Francisco Labs, reviews 3D printers, networking/storage devices, and also writes about other topics from online security to new gadgets and how technology impacts the life of people around the world.
A special lens designed by a group of researchers at the University of California at Berkeley can turn a regular camera phone into a powerful microscope camera capable of taking photo of bacteria in florescent light.
The portable CellScope prototype is set up for fluorescent imaging.
2 of 7 David Breslauer/UC Berkeley
3 of 7 David Breslauer/UC Berkeley
4 of 7 David Breslauer/UC Berkeley
Shown is the layout schematic for the cell phone microscope, or CellScope, for fluorescence imaging. For bright field imaging, the two filters and LED are removed.
5 of 7 David Breslauer/UC Berkeley
TB bacteria shine green in this fluorescent microscope image taken by a 3.2-megapixel camera in an off-the-shelf cell phone. The scale bar is 10 micrometers.
6 of 7 David Breslauer/UC Berkeley
A bright field microscope image of malaria-infected blood taken by the CellScope. The parasites appear as dark blue dots inside the larger, lighter blue cells.
7 of 7 U.C. Berkeley
The layout schematic for the cell phone microscope, or CellScope, for fluorescence imaging. For bright field imaging, the two filters and LED are removed.
