Scientists have developed a device that can turn a smartphone into an amateur fluorescent microscope. article about it published in Scientific Reports.
Fluorescent microscopes are used to examine samples that have been labeled with fluorescent dyes or that express fluorescent proteins (usually designed by living organisms to do so). However, since these microscopes typically cost at least several thousand US dollars, they can only be used by employees of private laboratories.
Designed by Jacob Hines and his colleagues, the Lightscope consists of a plastic frame, an attached camera lens, an LED flashlight, and an array of filters. The frame is used to place the smartphone or tablet on the sample, and the lens is attached to the phone or tablet’s camera to provide magnification. The sample is illuminated with an LED lamp and a light filter is placed over a lens to leave only the light emitted by the sample during fluorescence.
The authors demonstrated the power of the “lightscope” by using it to visualize live zebrafish embryos, two to three millimeters long, which express fluorescent proteins in spinal cord and heart tissue. It turned out that the coating lens provides about five times magnification and can image green and red fluorescent tissues with a resolution of up to ten micrometers, which is enough to image individual pigment cells. The authors used a kit to measure the heart rate of embryos and movements of individual heart chambers, after clarifying video recordings recorded using free software.
The cost of the kit does not exceed $ 50. This allows you to use it in school physics or biology classes.