Telemicroscopy for Disease Diagnosis

One of the most basic yet powerful tools in all of medicine is the simple microscope. It is the first tool of evaluation for skin diseases, ear aches, and sore throats, as well as being central to diagnosis of blood diseases. However, only the discerning eye of a trained physician can filter images and provide effective diagnoses and treatment recommendations. We propose to link high-resolution microscopic imaging with clinical expertise through microscopy-enabled cell phones. Increased access to health data from portable, low-cost microscope attachments to cell phones coupled with wireless connection to professional knowledge can play a vital role in improving health monitoring and disease diagnosis. Inadequate diagnosis and treatment of disease, as well as the cost of conventional healthcare, is a significant source of poverty in many rural communities. The ‘telemicroscopy’ system that we propose is a platform technology that would be useful in a wide range of contexts.

We propose to harness the growing wireless tele-communication access throughout developing world to provide convenient, high-resolution imaging of patient samples that can be rapidly transmitted to healthcare centers for interpretation by specialists. Our central innovation is the development of a compact, low cost, cell phone mounted microscope capable of taking hospital-quality images.