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Topic Name: Portable Medical Diagnostic Through Cell Phone
Category: Telecommunication
Research persons: Aydogan Ozcan
Location: Los Angeles, United States
Details
Researchers-Aydogan Ozcan,
Abstracts- In many Third World and developing countries, the distance between
people in need of health care and the facilities capable of providing it
constitutes a major obstacle to improving health. One solution involves creating
medical diagnostic applications small enough to fit into objects already in
common use, such as cell phones — in effect, bringing the hospital to the
patient.
Research History- CLA researchers have advanced a novel lens-free,
high-throughput imaging technique for potential use in such medical diagnostics,
which promise to improve global disease monitoring, especially in
resource-limited settings such as in Africa. The research, which will be
published in the quarterly journal Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE)
and is currently available online, outlines improvements to a technique known as
LUCAS, or Lensless Ultra-wide-field Cell monitoring Array platform based on
Shadow imaging.
First published in the Royal Society of Chemistry's journal Lab Chip in 2007,
the LUCAS technique, developed by UCLA researchers, demonstrated a lens-free
method for quickly and accurately counting targeted cell types in a homogenous
cell solution. Removing the lens from the imaging process allows LUCAS to be
scaled down to the point that it can eventually be integrated into a regular
wireless cell phone. Samples could be loaded into a specially equipped phone
using a disposable microfluidic chip.
The UCLA researchers have now improved the LUCAS technique to the point that
it can classify a significantly larger sample volume than previously shown — up
to 5 milliliters, from an earlier volume of less than 0.1 ml — representing a
major step toward portable medical diagnostic applications.
The research team, led by Aydogan Ozcan, assistant professor of electrical
engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
and a member of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), includes
postdoctoral scholar Sungkyu Seo, doctoral student Ting-Wei Su, master's student
Derek Tseng and undergraduate Anthony Erlinger.
LUCAS functions as an imaging scheme in which the shadow of each cell in an
entire sample volume is detected in less than a second. The acquired shadow
image is then digitally processed using a custom-developed "decision algorithm"
to enable both the identification of the cell/bacteria location in 3-D and the
classification of each microparticle type within the sample volume.
Various cell types — such as red blood cells, fibroblasts and hepatocytes —
or other microparticles, such as bacteria, all exhibit uniquely different shadow
patterns and therefore can be rapidly identified using the decision algorithm.
The new study demonstrates that the use of narrowband, short-wavelength
illumination significantly improves the detection of cell shadow images.
Furthermore, by varying the wavelength, the two-dimensional pattern of the
recorded cell signatures can be tuned to enable automated identification and
counting of a target cell type within a mixed cell solution.
"This is the first demonstration of automated, lens-free counting and
characterization of a mixed, or heterogeneous, cell solution on a chip and holds
significant promise for telemedicine applications," Ozcan said.
Vision- Ozcan envisions people one day being able to draw a blood sample into
a chip the size of a quarter, which could then be inserted into a LUCAS-equipped
cell phone that would quickly identify and count the cells within the sample.
The read-out could be sent wirelessly to a hospital for further analysis.
"This on-chip imaging platform may have a significant impact, especially for
medical diagnostic applications related to global health problems such as HIV or
malaria monitoring," Ozcan said.
Further development- Another improvement detailed in the UCLA research is the
creation of a hybrid imaging scheme that combines two different wavelengths to
further improve the digital quality of shadow images. This new cell
classification scheme has been termed "multicolor LUCAS." As the team
illustrated, further improvement in image quality can also be achieved through
the use of adaptive digital filtering. As result of these upgrades, the volume
of the sample solution that can be imaged has been increased, as mentioned, from
less than 0.1 ml to 5 ml.
Conclusion- "This is a significant advance in the quest to bring advanced
medical care to all reaches of the planet," said Leonard H. Rome, interim
director of the CNSI and senior associate dean for research at the David Geffen
School of Medicine at UCLA. "The implications for medical diagnostic
applications are in keeping with CNSI initiatives for new advances toward
improving global health."
Awards achived- Ozcan has already received accolades for this research,
including the prestigious 2008 Okawa Foundation Research Award, which he will
receive at a ceremony in San Francisco on Oct. 8. The award honors top young
researchers working in the fields of information and telecommunications. The
CMBE paper has also been selected for the Outstanding Paper award at the
upcoming annual meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society this fall.
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