Researchers from University of California, Los Angeles, Stockholm University, and Uppsala University in Sweden have joined forces to create a multimodal microscope that relies on a smartphone’s camera to provide targeted DNA sequencing and mutation analysis of living tissues.

The setup involves a 3D printed box containing a cheap lens that snaps onto the Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone which has a powerful 38-megapixel camera. Inside the box are two laser diodes that provide multicolor fluorescence imaging and a white LED for bright-field transmission imaging. A sample holder in front of the camera can be moved in three dimensions to place the target spot accurately for optimal imaging.

The team created a special fluorescence tagging technique, which lights up molecular strings, to actually see specific DNA sequences.

“For the molecular analysis, we developed targeted sequencing library preparation schemes based on selector probes and padlock probes in situ and RCA [Rolling Circle Amplification] to generate micron-sized DNA coils that consist of hundreds of concatemerized repeats of the circular template and that can each be brightly labeled with fluorescent hybridization probes or sequenced,” the study in Nature Communications reads.

The end result is an affordable DNA sequencing product that could be manufactured for less than $500. Also, because it can be easily carried around, it may play an important role in disease management in all kinds of environments and situations…