CellScope for Disease Diagnosis

Portable, Low-Cost Imaging for Monitoring and Disease Diagnosis

Photo Credit: Bart NagelMicroscopy is a vital and ubiquitous healthcare tool in modern hospitals and clinics for initial disease screening as well as for in-depth analysis of patient blood samples. However, many developing countries lack access to clinical-quality microscopes necessary for even the most basic evaluations. This scarcity of equipment is exacerbated by the lack of qualified medical personnel, especially in rural areas, to provide diagnoses and treatment based on the microscopy data.

The CellScope project focuses on the development of a modular, high-magnification microscope attachment for cell phones. Due to its portability, affordability and functionality, the CellScope will enable health workers in remote areas to take high-resolution images of a patient's blood cells using the mobile phone's camera, and then transmit the photos to experts at medical centers. This device can reduce both the cost and time of performing critical disease diagnoses, as well as provide early warning of outbreaks in poverty-stricken regions in the world.

The CellScope team is developing a range of prototype lenses of varying lengths, giving either low or high magnification, depending on the lens and the application. The team envisions that the final product, after the optics are optimized, will be only a few inches long and weigh less than a pound. Already, they have successfully imaged malaria and tuberculosis (TB) using the CellScope system with image quality comparable to standard diagnostic microscopy. Their current focus is on developing applications to tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and monitoring. Over the next year the team plans to carry out a pilot field study in collaboration with partner and begin the revision of the CellScope based on field test data.

Principal Investigator: Professor Daniel Fletcher, Bioengineering
Field Location: Currently under investigation
Partners: Microsoft Research; Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS); PATH; Intel; Vodafone Americas Foundation