New lens-free microscope ‘offers unprecedented performance’

Engineers from the University of California, Los Angeles have been able to create a new lens-free microscope that can match the performance of much larger optical microscopes.

The first lens-free microscope that can be used for high-throughput 3D tissue imaging, the device works by using a laser or LED to illuminate a sample, with a sensor array on a microchip capturing and recording the resulting pattern of shadows.

These patterns are processed as a series of holograms that are compiled into detailed 3D images. An algorithm then colour-codes the images to improve contrasts and ensure that any abnormalities are easier to detect.

It has been shown that this method can detect the presence of cancer or other cell-level abnormalities, with pathologist diagnoses generated using these images proving accurate 99 percent of the time.

Aydogan Ozcan, professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, said: "This is a milestone in the work we've been doing. This is the first time tissue samples have been imaged in 3D using a lens-free on-chip microscope."

It is hoped that this innovation will make it easier to examine samples in remote areas or in cases where large numbers of samples need to be analysed quickly, while also offering portability and cost-effectiveness benefits.