Explore Topics:
AIBiotechnologyRoboticsComputingFutureScienceSpaceEnergyTech
Gadgets

CellScope: Your Cell Phone Just Got a Microscope

Aaron Saenz
Sep 03, 2009

Share

The CellScope will combine micrscopes with cell phones to help diagnose diseases in remote locations. This is a low magnification prototype.

I think we need to stop calling them cell phones, because our hand held devices are starting to have more capabilities than Batman's utility belt. Controlling robots, projecting images, depositing checks, augmented reality, not to mention internet, GPS, and cameras... and now we can add microscopes to the list. Prof. Dan Flectcher and his team out of UC Berkeley are developing the CellScope, a microscope assembly that will easily attach to a standard cell phone and allow you to take up close images of skin and blood samples. While that sounds like just another cool iPhone trick, it has huge implications for fighting diseases in the Third World. Check out Fletcher's explanation video from Popular Science after the break.

Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria kill millions each year and infect hundreds of millions more. Most of those infected are miles from a doctor and even farther from reliable medical equipment. This means that many go untreated, and many more may be misdiagnosed. A portable method for sampling blood in the field could literally save millions of lives. CellScope has the potential to do just that. Field personnel with little experience can take a blood sample, image it, then send the photo to a qualified medical professional miles away. Diagnosis by phone might be just what the doctor ordered.

The idea and first prototype for the CellScope came out of a class that Fletcher taught. He challenged his students to create a microscope that could be attached to a cell phone. Now, many of those same students are helping CellScope through the development phase. The current incarnation of the device is still a little bulky (as you can see in the video) but the ultimate goal is a few inches of length and less than one pound in weight.

https://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1274171289

Be Part of the Future

Sign up to receive top stories about groundbreaking technologies and visionary thinkers from SingularityHub.

100% Free. No Spam. Unsubscribe any time.

While Malaria can be identified with standard light illumination, TB requires a fluorescent technique. So there is more than one model for the CellScope, including one with 460 nm wavelength light to help diagnosis TB. Other variations to match other diseases are currently in development. It's unclear whether the final device will be a single tube with complicated means of switching lenses and illumination or if a field user will carry several different tubes to match different testing modalities.

While it may revolutionize medicine in remote locations, CellScope could also do the same domestically. Patients with chronic blood conditions or skin diseases could have a powerful new tool at their disposal. They may be able to stay at home and send images to doctors for diagnosis rather than make costly routine visits to hospitals.

It's unclear when CellScope will hit the market and which market (domestic or international medicine) will be approached first. In fact, with all the prototyping and decision making that needs to be done, I'm worried that it may be several years or more before it is widely available.

I should point out that Prof. Dan Fletcher and his crew aren't gadget gurus, they're biophysicists, grad students and undergraduates. Which makes this whole story that much more impressive to me. Kudos to Dr. Fletcher for not just taking time out of research to help people, but for teaching his students to do the same. My own advisor always used to tell me that it wasn't enough to just perform experiments, you had to give back to society as well. Science and social conscience, like remote diagnosis and microscopy, is a powerful combination. Batman would approve.

[photo credits: Fletcher Labs]

Related Articles

portable wind turbine

This Portable Wind Turbine Is the Size of a Water Bottle and Charges Devices in Under an Hour

Vanessa Bates Ramirez
augmented reality contact lens

Mojo Vision’s New Contact Lens Brings Seamless Augmented Reality a Step Closer

Edd Gent
CES 2020 avatar car tech future

The Weird, the Wacky, the Just Plain Cool: Best of CES 2020

Vanessa Bates Ramirez
portable wind turbine
Tech

This Portable Wind Turbine Is the Size of a Water Bottle and Charges Devices in Under an Hour

Vanessa Bates Ramirez
augmented reality contact lens
Tech

Mojo Vision’s New Contact Lens Brings Seamless Augmented Reality a Step Closer

Edd Gent
CES 2020 avatar car tech future
Tech

The Weird, the Wacky, the Just Plain Cool: Best of CES 2020

Vanessa Bates Ramirez

What we’re reading

Be Part of the Future

Sign up to receive top stories about groundbreaking technologies and visionary thinkers from SingularityHub.

100% Free. No Spam. Unsubscribe any time.

SingularityHub chronicles the technological frontier with coverage of the breakthroughs, players, and issues shaping the future.

Follow Us On Social

About

  • About Hub
  • About Singularity

Get in Touch

  • Contact Us
  • Pitch Us
  • Brand Partnerships

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
© 2025 Singularity