{"id":4404,"date":"2015-05-26T10:20:07","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T10:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=4404"},"modified":"2015-05-26T10:23:18","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T10:23:18","slug":"new-technology-turns-smartphone-into-a-dna-scanning-microscope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/new-technology-turns-smartphone-into-a-dna-scanning-microscope\/","title":{"rendered":"New Technology Turns Smartphone into a DNA-Scanning Microscope"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Professor<\/a>
Professor Aydogan Ozcan, Ph.D., UCLA, leads the research. (Source: the Ozcan Research Group at UCLA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Researchers at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a new technology that turns a smartphone into a DNA-scanning fluorescent microscope.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lead researcher Aydogan Ozcan, Howard Hughes Medical Institute chancellor professor at UCLA, sat down with\u00a0Bioscience Technology<\/em>\u00a0to talk about this advancement and its implications for resource-poor labs, and for personalized medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new optical attachment, which includes a lens, filter, mount and laser diode in a 3D-printed case, can image and size DNA molecules 50,000 times thinner than a human hair.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scientists see the technology being used in remote laboratory settings to diagnose cancers and central nervous system disorders such as Alzheimer\u2019s, and to detect drug resistance in infectious diseases.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bringing techniques and testing that is normally confined to a laboratory or hospital, out into the field, or right into a patient\u2019s home is a theme in Ozcan\u2019s lab.<\/span><\/p>\n

His lab, \u201cis working on computational optical technologies that aim for microscopy, imaging, sensing and diagnostic applications, unlike traditional techniques that are using instruments that you normally find in a lab or hospital,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing it using interfaces that are simple, lightweight, compact and cost effective, that utilize consumer devices (especially mobile phones) as a platform for making these measurements in filed settings and resource-limited settings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how it works.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"CLEO-Ozcan_image11\"<\/a>
The new optical instrument, which includes a lens, filter mount, diode in a 3D printed case, can image and size DNA molecules 50,000 times thinner than human hair.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First, the desired DNA must be isolated and labeled with fluorescent tags, a procedure that can be done even in remote locations or limited resources, Ozcan, who leads the Bio- and Nano-photonics Laboratory at UCLA Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering Departments, said.\u00a0\u00a0 To scan the DNA researchers developed a computational interface and Windows smart application running on the same smartphone.\u00a0 Information is then sent to a remote server in the researchers\u2019 UCLA laboratory that measures the length of the DNA molecules.\u00a0 The data processing can take less than 10 seconds depending on the data connection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Traditional microscopes can do the same thing \u2013 but they are bulky, expensive and often unavailable in remote locations.\u00a0 Not only does this technology reduce cost, and enable telemedicine and mobile health, but there\u2019s also another angle that makes them attractive, Aydogan said, and that is connectivity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike traditional microscopes, which are used locally and in a disconnected fashion, the microscopes described here are all connected to servers through WIFI or network signals, which make them \u201cquite powerful\u201d in terms of labeling results as a function of space and time and see the spreading of certain conditions or identify a trend.\u00a0 In HIV, for example, \u201cyou can ask a question like, how is that expanding or spreading over the last year compared to the previous year, or why is it increasing in this neighborhood versus another one,\u201d Ozcan explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

The attachment reliably sized DNA segments of 10,000 base pairs or longer, a size range that many important genes fall in, according to the researchers.\u00a0 This includes a bacterial gene known for giving staphylococcus aureus and other bacteria antibiotic resistance that is about 14,000 base pairs long.<\/span><\/p>\n

For 5,000 base-pair or shorter segments, however, there was a significant drop in accuracy due to the reduced detection signal-to-noise ratio and contrast for such short fragments.\u00a0 One solution to this problem is to replace the attachment\u2019s current lens with one that has a higher numerical aperture, the researchers said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Variety of Uses<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In general, the smartphone technology being developed at Ozcan\u2019s lab can be used to perform a number of lab functions, such as diagnosing and tracking Malaria and TB.\u00a0 It can also be applied to blood diseases, like sickle cell anemia, or be used to look at contamination, for example in food or milk.\u00a0 The team has been able to convert the mobile phone into a sensitive E-coli or giardia detector, one of the most frequently encountered pathogens, Ozcan said.\u00a0 It can also be used for simple tests that are normally only done at hospitals, such as total count of red or white blood cells.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the home and in the field<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Doctors in the field, \u201ccan convert a simple nurse office or a point of care office into an advanced testing infrastructure,\u201d Ozcan said.\u00a0 \u201cThey can, for example, look at a Malaria infected patient, or TB infected patient and potentially decide on a drug choice based on some of the genetic testing copy number variations of certain genes that you would find in the sample taken from the patient.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The technology also removes barriers to testing that cities or small villages might have, including the cost of shipping and sending of specimen, or lack of experts in the immediate area.\u00a0 \u201cIf you were to have these microscopes that are extremely cost effective, a simple nurse or a healthcare technician can prepare specimen and image them, where the images are then transferred to an expert professional pathologist that is maybe 1,000 miles away or maybe not even in the same country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One way this technology could be used in places like the US, is for chronic patients or the aging population.\u00a0 \u201cRather than bringing these patients out of their homes, you bring the lab to the home and do testing extremely frequently.\u201d For example, someone with diabetes who has chronic kidney problems.\u00a0 If the person needed to be tested every few hours, before a meal, after a meal, it would be very valuable information for your doctor to be able to track your condition, Ozcan said.\u00a0 \u201cI think that it\u2019s a great opportunity, especially for lowering insurance costs in the US when it becomes more of a problem to manage our chronic patients and our aging population.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Next up the researchers plan to test their device in the field to detect the presence of malaria-related drug resistance. \u00a0The team also has other devices in the pipeline that they are currently testing and comparing their performance against lab instruments that are FDA approved.<\/span><\/p>\n

The research, \u201cField-Portable Smartphone Microscopy Platform for Wide-field Imaging and Sizing of Single DNA Molecules,\u201d was presented at the Optical Society\u2019s\u00a0Conference on Laser and Electro Optics<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(CLEO) 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Source: biosciencetechnology<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a new technology that turns a smartphone into a DNA-scanning fluorescent microscope.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lead researcher Aydogan Ozcan, Howard Hughes Medical Institute chancellor professor at UCLA, sat down with\u00a0Bioscience Technology\u00a0to talk about this advancement and its implications for resource-poor labs, and for personalized medicine. The new optical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",43,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",200,300,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",64,96,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/bt1505_uclaOzcan.jpg",150,225,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Innovation<\/a>","tag_info":"Innovation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}