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IMAGE: Integration of polymeric membrane/dielectric sphere assemblies in microfluidic chips for enhanced-contrast imaging with low-magnification systems, doi 10.1117/1.JOM.1.1.014001. view more
Credit: Viri et al.
The development of cost-efficient, portable microscopy units would greatly expand their use in remote field locations and in places with fewer resources, potentially leading to easier on-site analysis of contaminants such as E. coli in water sources as well as other practical applications.
Current microscopy systems, like those used to image micro-organisms, are expensive because they are optimized for maximum resolution and minimal deformation of the images the systems produce. But some situations do not require such optimization for instance, simply detecting the presence of pathogens in water. One potential approach to developing a low-cost portable microscopy system is to use transparent microspheres in combination with affordable low-magnificati