Mesothelioma and Asbestos

A team at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) has developed a recent class of cell phone microscope. UCLA Professor Aydogan Ozcan has created a series of phone attachments that can act as microscopes without lenses, using hardware that costs under $10. Ozcan has started a recent company Microskia to market the microscope attachments as well as connect them to a database that will text the user’s cell phone with results in only five minutes.

This recent form of microscope would be a breakthrough in the field of global medicine, allowing even remote villages without a nearby laboratory or healthcare professional to get reliable test results via mobile phone. A cell phone microscope could identify HIV or malaria around the world in a matter of minutes, rather than watchful waiting days for even routine cases in some parts of the world. Even in the United States, the potential for intimate take is impressive; individuals could take blood samples at home as well as test for pathogens, potentially coming up with a diagnosis before symptoms manifest. This technology could as well as be used to help detect asbestos, lead as well as other environmental toxins.

A team at UC Berkley has created a similar device called the cellscope. It uses no lenses as well as magnifies digitally rather than optically using the Lensless Ultra-wide-field Cell monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging (LUCAS). LUCAS does not make traditional images, but, so a database is essential because even experienced lab technicians may be unable to come up with a diagnosis on their own.

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