Some Florescence for a change

[Amir Bernat]

A couple of interesting papers on fluorescence

Smartphone chloridometer for point-of-care applications

Abstract

Chloride level in sweat is a major diagnostic criterion for cystic fibrosis (CF) and many other health conditions. In an effort to develop a low cost, point-of-care sweat diagnostics system for chloride concentration measurement, we demonstrated a smartphone-based chloridometer to measure sweat chloride by using our recently developed fluorescence chloride sensor. We characterized the performance of our device to validate its clinical potential. The study indicates that our smartphone-based chloridometer may potentially advance the point-of-care diagnostic system by reducing cost and improving diagnostic accuracy.

Smartphone Fluorescence Microscopy Allows Cost-Effective Molecular Diagnostics

Lack of diagnostic tools in resource-limited settings remains one of the major obstacles to disease diagnosis and treatment in the developing world. Although significant progress has been made in the availability of highly sensitive and specific molecular diagnostic tests, most of the current technologies are costly, relatively complex, and rely on advanced infrastructure and highly trained personnel, which restrict their applications to clinical laboratory settings. Even in developed countries, the cost of medical diagnostics can impose hurdles for patients.