title: A Low-Cost Digital Microscope with Real-Time Fluorescent Imaging Capability.
abstract: This paper describes the development of a prototype of a low-cost digital fluorescent microscope built from commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. The prototype was tested to detect malignant tumor cells taken from a living organism in a preclinical setting. This experiment was accomplished by using Alexa Fluor 488 conjugate dye attached to the cancer cells. Our prototype utilizes a torch along with an excitation filter as a light source for fluorophore excitation, a dichroic mirror to reflect the excitation and pass the emitted green light from the sample under test and a barrier filter to permit only appropriate wavelength. The system is designed out of a microscope using its optical zooming property and an assembly of exciter filter, dichroic mirror and transmitter filter. The microscope is connected to a computer or laptop through universal serial bus (USB) that allows real-time transmission of captured florescence images; this also offers real-time control of the microscope. The designed system has comparable features of high-end commercial fluorescent microscopes while reducing cost, power, weight and size.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
authors.forename: Md Mehedi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Hasan
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
authors.forename: Mohammad Wajih
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9737-2032
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
authors.forename: Khan A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Wahid
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
authors.forename: Sayem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miah
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
authors.forename: Kiven Erique
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Lukong
mesh_terms: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000191:economics* / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes