Andrew Miller developed a low cost field microscope as his senior design project at Rice University. The microscope can diagnose TB as easily as laboratory microscopes that cost up to $40,000, yet it only costs about $200.
The Global Focus fluorescence microscope offers a maximum of 1000 times magnification. The light source of the inverted bright field Global Focus microscope is a battery-operated, removable white and blue LED flashlights. The blue LED offers fluorescence illumination, as it has a narrow bandwidth excitation filter. The white LED is used in the applications of bright field imaging.
In this country TB has almost been eradicated but the World Health Organization estimates that 1.3 million people worldwide died from tuberculosis in 2008.
Tuberculosis specimens were used to compare the new microscope with expensive laboratory models with about 90% correspondence. The portable Global Focus fluorescence microscope is ideal for use as a low cost tool for diagnosing tuberculosis in the field. It only weighs 2.5 pounds and is battery powered so it can be used in remote villages without power.
http://www.gizmag.com/global-focus-240-t...