A portable brightfield and fluorescence microscope toward automated malarial parasitemia quantification in thin blood smears

Gordon, Paul; Ville, Courtney De; Sacchettini, James C.; Coté, Gerard L.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0266441

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…System features were represented in Table 4. Several state-of-the-art published systems were selected in order to be compared with our purpose in terms of: pieces materials, image acquisition, autofocus, cost, camera settings, point of care design and power requirements [13,[17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a low-cost robotized 3D-prototype for automated optical microscopy diagnosis: An open-source system

Dantas de Oliveira,

Rubio Maturana,

Zarzuela Serrat

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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In a clinical context, conventional optical microscopy is commonly used for the visualization of biological samples for diagnosis. However, the availability of molecular techniques and rapid diagnostic tests are reducing the use of conventional microscopy, and consequently the number of experienced professionals starts to decrease. Moreover, the continuous visualization during long periods of time through an optical microscope could affect the final diagnosis results due to induced human errors and fatigue. Therefore, microscopy automation is a challenge to be achieved and address this problem. The aim of the study is to develop a low-cost automated system for the visualization of microbiological/parasitological samples by using a conventional optical microscope, and specially designed for its implementation in resource-poor settings laboratories. A 3D-prototype to automate the majority of conventional optical microscopes was designed. Pieces were built with 3D-printing technology and polylactic acid biodegradable material with Tinkercad/Ultimaker Cura 5.1 slicing softwares. The system’s components were divided into three subgroups: microscope stage pieces, storage/autofocus-pieces, and smartphone pieces. The prototype is based on servo motors, controlled by Arduino open-source electronic platform, to emulate the X-Y and auto-focus (Z) movements of the microscope. An average time of 27.00 ± 2.58 seconds is required to auto-focus a single FoV. Auto-focus evaluation demonstrates a mean average maximum Laplacian value of 11.83 with tested images. The whole automation process is controlled by a smartphone device, which is responsible for acquiring images for further diagnosis via convolutional neural networks. The prototype is specially designed for resource-poor settings, where microscopy diagnosis is still a routine process. The coalescence between convolutional neural network predictive models and the automation of the movements of a conventional optical microscope confer the system a wide range of image-based diagnosis applications. The accessibility of the system could help improve diagnostics and provide new tools to laboratories worldwide.

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a low-cost robotized 3D-prototype for automated optical microscopy diagnosis: An open-source system

Dantas de Oliveira,

Rubio Maturana,

Zarzuela Serrat

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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“…To solve the problem of malaria diagnosis in remote regions where benchtop microscopes are unavailable, Gordon et al designed a portable microscope with monochromatic visible illumination with a long working distance singlet aspheric objective lens. The detection limit can reach 0.18 parasites per 100 red blood cells [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paim (Πm): Portable Ai-Enhanced Fluorescence Microscope for Real-Time Target Detection

et al. 2022

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“…Innovative laboratories now operate commercial and custom-designed microscopes taking advantage of these technologies, enabling advanced imaging 1/20 capabilities [1] for scientific exploration and discovery. For example, customized solutions have been developed for super-resolution imaging [2,3,4,5] and malaria diagnostics [6,7,8]; while modular platforms have been developed to simplify cutting-edge techniques [4,9,10]. These innovations increase the power of microscopy as an analytical tool [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ESPressoscope: a small and powerful platform for in situ microscopy

Li,

Saggiomo,

Ouyang

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Microscopy is essential for detecting, identifying, analyzing, and measuring small objects. Access to modern microscopy equipment is crucial for scientific research, especially in the biomedical and analytical sciences. However, the high cost of equipment, limited availability of parts, and challenges associated with transporting equipment often limit the accessibility and operational capabilities of these tools, particularly in field sites and other remote or resource-limited settings. Thus, there is a need for affordable and accessible alternatives to traditional microscopy systems. We address this challenge by investigating the feasibility of using a simple microcontroller board not only as a portable and field-ready digital microscope, but furthermore as a versatile platform which can easily be adapted to a variety of imaging applications. By adding a few external components, we demonstrate that a low-cost ESP32 camera board can be used to build an autonomous in situ platform for digital time-lapse imaging of cells. This platform, which we call the ESPressoscope, can be adapted to applications ranging from monitoring incubator cell cultures in the lab to observing ecological phenomena in the sea, and it can be adapted for other techniques such as microfluidics or spectrophotometry. The ESPressoscope achieves a low power consumption and small size, which makes it ideal for field research in environments and applications where microscopy was previously infeasible. Its Wi-Fi connectivity enables integration with external image processing and storage systems, including on cloud platforms when internet access is available. Finally, we present several web browser-based tools to help users operate and manage the ESPressoscope's software. Our findings demonstrate the potential for low-cost, portable microscopy solutions to enable new and more accessible experiments for biological and analytical applications.

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A portable brightfield and fluorescence microscope toward automated malarial parasitemia quantification in thin blood smears

Cited by 9 publications

References 29 publications

Development of a low-cost robotized 3D-prototype for automated optical microscopy diagnosis: An open-source system

Development of a low-cost robotized 3D-prototype for automated optical microscopy diagnosis: An open-source system

Paim (Πm): Portable Ai-Enhanced Fluorescence Microscope for Real-Time Target Detection

ESPressoscope: a small and powerful platform for in situ microscopy

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