UCLA – The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers, has created an ultimate smartphone with a ultra-zoom solution that can serve as a DNA scanning tool. The solution allows the scientists to size and image DNA when they are on the field. The tool uses a small 3-D printed box that serves as a microscope of high-resolution and can be used to view objects with two or fewer nanometers width.
In the third world countries, checking and diagnosing a particular disease or an infection in the field is very difficult as the necessary equipment is expensive and heavy to carry. According to Aydogan Ozcan, ULCA professor who is also involved in this project, at present, the single DNA imaging requires expensive, bulky optical microscopic tools, which you can use only in advanced laboratory settings.
This new creation can prove to be extremely useful to the developing countries as the technology will be easily accessible through smartphone and very easy to carry. The components used for this new device cost much less and can provide a perspective of DNA up to 50000 times thinner than a hair of human.
New Device to be Used in Remote Settings
The main intention of creating this new device is to make DNA scanning in remote laboratory setting possible. It will help in diagnosing the different types of health disorders and diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and nervous system disorders at increased speed. Moreover, rapid scanning and faster results will also enable the researchers to detect the tendency of drug resistance in the disease.
The ULCA scientists have made the process of scanning the DNA and detecting the disorders in remote places much simpler and affordable. The new device turns the phone into a fluorescent microscope that can scan a DNA. The scientists used an external lens, a stage mounts, a thin-film filter and a laser diode to prepare this device. Once it reaches the third world countries, the spread of many endemic diseases can be controlled.
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