Integrating Cell Phone Imaging with Magnetic Levitation (i-LEV) for Label-Free Blood Analysis at the Point-of-Living

Creative Commons License

Baday M., Calamak S., Durmus N. G., Davis R. W., Steinmetz L. M., Demirci U.

SMALL, vol.12, no.9, pp.1222-1229, 2016 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 12 Issue: 9
  • Publication Date: 2016
  • Doi Number: 10.1002/smll.201501845
  • Journal Name: SMALL
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.1222-1229
  • Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection
  • Hacettepe University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

There is an emerging need for portable, robust, inexpensive, and easy-to-use disease diagnosis and prognosis monitoring platforms to share health information at the point-of-living, including clinical and home settings. Recent advances in digital health technologies have improved early diagnosis, drug treatment, and personalized medicine. Smartphones with high-resolution cameras and high data processing power enable intriguing biomedical applications when integrated with diagnostic devices. Further, these devices have immense potential to contribute to public health in resource-limited settings where there is a particular need for portable, rapid, label-free, easy-to-use, and affordable biomedical devices to diagnose and continuously monitor patients for precision medicine, especially those suffering from rare diseases, such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Here, a magnetic levitation-based diagnosis system is presented in which different cell types (i.e., white and red blood cells) are levitated in a magnetic gradient and separated due to their unique densities. Moreover, an easy-to-use, smartphone incorporated levitation system for cell analysis is introduced. Using our portable imaging magnetic levitation (i-LEV) system, it is shown that white and red blood cells can be identifi ed and cell numbers can be quantifi ed without using any labels. In addition, cells levitated in i-LEV can be distinguished at single-cell resolution, potentially enabling diagnosis and monitoring, as well as clinical and research applications.