Fluorescent Microscopy for Imaging of In-Vivo Cancer Cells

Abstract

Fluorescent in-vivo microscopy has recently become a promising technology for performing medical screening and diagnosis in low-resource areas. This approach offers several benefits, including limiting the requirement for pathologists and outside laboratory resources, and generating immediate test results, ensuring the patient will receive their diagnosis. In preliminary studies, malaria and cervical cancer were successfully diagnosed using this approach. However, in order to be deployed successfully, these systems need to be optimized for size and cost. In this work, we explore the use of a miniaturized fluorescent microscopy system for imaging cancer cells in-vivo. Our design relies on GRIN microlens technology used in conjunction with an achromatic lens, which provides high resolution imaging of objects at the microscope’s surface without significant chromatic aberration. The optical components are all held in a custom 3D printed case. For this report, we tested the microcope's imaging capacity on non-fluorescent objects. The microscope provided roughly 4.5x magnification, but with limited resolution. This limited resolution is likely due to the high numerical aperture and large fiber diameter of the included fiber optic cable, and additional work should be undertaken to further test the system and improve the resolution.