Lens-free microscope enables full-colour pathology at low cost

Researchers in Canada have developed a new kind of microscope that can produce large, full-colour images of tissue and fluid samples, but which costs in the range of hundreds of dollars, potentially making it accessible to a very wide range of facilities. Known as a spectral light-fusion microscope, the device has no lens but uses artificial intelligence and mathematical models of light to construct an image.

The discipline of pathology requires accurate coloured images so that clinicians can observe interactions between organisms and tissues. Currently, the best way to produce large 3D images is to electronically "stitch" together multiple images from conventional microscopes, which used lens-based optics to obtain their images. This is a job for skilled technicians, and requires machines that cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.

The spectral fusion microscope, developed by two researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada uses a completely different method to capture its images. Alexander Wong, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Medical Imaging at Waterloo and who led the research alongside systems design engineer Farnoud Kazemzadeh, said: “In medicine, we know that pathology is the gold standard in helping to analyse and diagnose patients, but that standard is difficult to come by in areas that can’t afford it. This technology has the potential to make pathology labs more affordable for communities who currently don’t have access to conventional equipment.”