A portable, optical scanning microsystem for large field of view, high resolution imaging of biological specimens

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. A. Physical. 2018-08, Vol.279, p.367-375
• Main Authors: Korompili, Georgia, Kanakaris, Georgios, Ampatis, Christos, Chronis, Nikos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological properties; Field of view; High resolution; Image resolution; Large field of view; Lens array; Leukocytes; Medical imaging; Medical technology; Micro-optics; Microelectromechanical systems; Microelectronics; Microscopy; Optical imaging; Point of care testing; Point-of-care; Portability; Scanners; Scanning; Smear
• ISSN: 0924-4247; 1873-3069
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sna.2018.06.034

•A portable, optical scanning microsystem for high resolution and large field of view biological specimen imaging is proposed.•The system uses a lens array and performs one direction scanning of the specimen to form the entire image of it.•Key element is the design of lens array presenting a tilt angle with respect to the scanning direction.•Validation imaging of the entire surface of amicrofluidic chip and cell detection of CD45 T cells captured in it. Adapting medical technology for use at the point of care, demands the development of portable, robust and accurate systems for the early diagnosis and monitoring of a wide range of diseases. Microscopy at the point of care, fueled by recent advances in micro-optics, micro-electronics and micro-electromechanical systems, is an emerging and promising field. However, imaging devices already developed remain rather sophisticated and bulky, mainly because of failure to address the most challenging technical limitation: to combine large field-of-view (FOV) with high resolution imaging of biological specimens. To address this need, we developed a portable, optical scanning microsystem that can image - with approximately 1 μm resolution- large areas (6 mm × 40 mm) from various biological samples. This is achieved through the use of a microfabricated - 2D lens array that scans a sample in 1 direction in few minutes. We demonstrated that our system can image blood smear and identify single white blood cells immobilized in a microfluidic chip.