Cell phones can now monitor HIV

The imaging platform, known as LUCAS (Lensless Ultra-wide-field Cell monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging), has now been successfully installed in both a cell phone and a webcam. Both devices acquire an image in the same way as using a short wavelength blue light to illuminate a blood, saliva or other fluid sample.

LUCAS captures an image of the microparticles in the solution using a sensor array.

As red blood cells and other microparticles have a distinct diffraction pattern, or shadow image, it becomes easier to identify and count them almost instantaneously by LUCAS using a custom-developed "decision algorithm" that compares the captured shadow images to a library of training images.

Data collected by LUCAS can then be sent to a hospital for analysis and diagnosis using the cell phone, or transferred via USB to a computer for transmission to a hospital.