For 3 cents, turn your smartphone into a microscope
For just three cents (about P1.34), you can turn your old smartphone into a powerful microscope, thanks to research from the University of Houston.
A report on Science Daily said the researchers created an optical lens that can be fitted into a smartphone – and magnify images by a magnitude of up to 120.
"Our lens can transform a smartphone camera into a microscope by simply attaching the lens without any supporting attachments or mechanism," the researchers wrote.
Also, they noted the "strong, yet non-permanent adhesion" between PDMS and glass allows the easy detachment of the lens after use.
Wei-Chuan Shih, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH, sees uses for this not just in schools but also in small or isolated clinics.
Shih published a paper in the Journal of Biomedical Optics with three graduate students, where they detailed how they made the lenses.
The students include:
- Jenn Jeang, who will start graduate school at Liberty University in Virginia
- Chia-Hsiung Lee, former graduate student at UH now working in the technology industry in Taiwan.
The lens is made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Sung said its curvature and magnification will depend on how long and at what temperature the PDMS is heated.
In their study, the researchers captured images of a human skin-hair follicle histological slide using their smartphone-PDMS solution and an Olympus IX-70 microscope.
They said the smartphone lens' performance was comparable to the Olympus microscope at a magnification of 100 – and they could enhance the image further using software.
Sung, who uses a Nokia Lumia 520, said his "microscope" came from "a $20 phone and a 1 cent lens."
He and Shih estimate it may cost three cents to manufacture the lenses in bulk – a far cry from the $10,000 for a conventional research-quality microscope.
Fund-raising
While the researchers are producing the lenses by hand for now, they have launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to make the lenses in bulk. They hope to raise $12,000 for the equipment.
They have also shared the lenses with the Ministry of Education in Taiwan and with teachHOUSTON, a math and science teacher preparation program at UH. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News