"Pocket Doctors: Disease Diagnosis with Mobile Phones"

Abstract: Light microscopy remains a central tool for biological discovery and disease diagnosis. Direct imaging of host cells and pathogens in culture as well as in blood, sputum, and stool samples can provide a rapid and definitive diagnosis of a broad range of diseases, as well as advance fundamental biological studies. However, microscopy typically requires advanced equipment and skilled users not routinely available outside of well-equipped laboratories and hospitals. In recent years, mobile phones have been converted into light microscopes with the ability to capture biological samples in the field and resolve causative agents of disease. The increasing computational power of mobile phones has also opened possibilities for automated imaging and analysis. This talk with describe ongoing work that combines mobile phone microscopy with both hardware and software engineering to expand the uses of light microscopy, with applications to global health and immunology.
Dr. Dan Fletcher is the Chatterjee Professor of Bioengineering & Biophysics at UC Berkeley, where he also serves as Chair of the Bioengineering Department and Chief Technologist of the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He and his laboratory study the mechanics of cell motility and signaling, the biology of infectious diseases, and the development of optical and microfluidic technologies. Dr. Fletcher received a B.S. from Princeton University, a D.Phil. from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar.