NEW- Cellphone-Microscope Invention

I recently read an article about new technologies that enable a cellphone to be used as a microscope. Microscopes are incredibly important in the diagnoses of disease, identification of organisms, etc., but they can be very expensive and inconvenient. This new advance is not only an incredible feat of technology, but also of medicine; the previous necessity of a full lab and scientists is no longer necessarily needed, but instead, simply a cellphone. “We convert cellphones into devices that diagnose diseases,”stated Aydogan Ozcan, a professor at the University of California, and the inventor of the device. He also recently started Microskia, a company that will hopefully comercialize the tool. A simple, inexpensive attachment and a standard camera-cellphone is all that is needed. The sample device can be used by inserting a blood slide over the cell's camera sensor. The phone can reigster what exaclty is in the blood, and will send this information to a hospital or health center. The phone can detect abnormal or diseased blood cells, which may imply infection. David J. Brady, a profesor at Duke University stated, “There’s no need for lenses in these devices because the magnification can be done electronically. You don’t need optics at all.” This new advance is said to be particularly effective for identifying malaria, a disease plagging many all over the world. Profesors and scientists all over the country are astounded by this incredible new technology, including Yvonne Bryson, at the Geffen School of Medicine at U.C.L.A, M. Fatih Yanik, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the previously mentioned Dr. Brady, and many more.

[image: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/business/08novel.html?emc=eta1]
example of cellphone and inexpensive attachable miscroscope-device