Fingertip-size microscope has huge potential for studying the brain and its diseases, say Stanford researchers

Citation

Bergeron, L. (2012), "Fingertip-size microscope has huge potential for studying the brain and its diseases, say Stanford researchers", Sensor Review, Vol. 32 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2012.08732daa.003

Fingertip-size microscope has huge potential for studying the brain and its diseases, say Stanford researchers

Article Type: New products From: Sensor Review, Volume 32, Issue 4

A tiny portable microscope – so small it can fit on a fingertip – has been built by Stanford University researchers (Figure 12). The miniature device can be used in the lab or in the field for biological research and potentially for medical screening for diseases. The microscopes, built using existing technologies, could be inexpensively mass-produced.

A readily portable miniature microscope weighing less than 2 g and tiny enough to balance on your fingertip has been developed by Stanford University researchers.

Figure 12 Researcher Mark Schnitzer demonstrates the microscope’s tiny size and weight

The scope is designed to see fluorescent markers, such as dyes, commonly used by medical and biological researchers studying the brains of mice.

The new device has no moving parts that would require realignment if the scope gets jostled and, aside from the outer lens, it is sealed against dust, making it well suited for use outside the lab. Up to now, such work typically had to be done in a laboratory, using desktop microscopes.

Inexpensive to build

The device was built using readily available technology. Many of the components were originally developed for cell phones and other consumer devices. All the parts could be readily mass-produced, which could make them inexpensive.

Compared to a small, high-resolution fiberoptic microscope developed in Schnitzer’s lab in 2008 – the state of the miniaturized microscope art until now – the new device offers a field of view seven times greater and reduces degradation of the image by a factor of five.

It has improved optical sensitivity, higher resolution and far greater portability than either fiberoptic or conventional desktop-size microscopes.

Louis Bergeron