Gorti Viswanath, Kaza Nischita, Williams Evelyn Kendall, Lam Wilbur A, Robles Francisco E
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Biomed Opt Express. 2023 Feb 24;14(3):1245-1255. doi: 10.1364/BOE.482294. eCollection 2023 Mar 1.
Deep-ultraviolet (UV) microscopy enables label-free, high-resolution, quantitative molecular imaging and enables unique applications in biomedicine, including the potential for fast hematological analysis at the point-of-care. UV microscopy has been shown to quantify hemoglobin content and white blood cells (five-part differential), providing a simple alternative to the current gold standard, the hematological analyzer. Previously, however, the UV system comprised a bulky broadband laser-driven plasma light source along with a large and expensive camera and 3D translation stage. Here, we present a modified deep-UV microscope system with a compact footprint and low-cost components. We detail the novel design with simple, inexpensive optics and hardware to enable fast and accurate automated imaging. We characterize the system, including a modified low-cost web-camera and custom automated 3D translation stage, and demonstrate its ability to scan and capture large area images. We further demonstrate the capability of the system by imaging and analyzing blood smears, using previously trained networks for automatic segmentation, classification (including 5-part white blood cell differential), and colorization. The developed system is approximately 10 times less expensive than previous configurations and can serve as a point-of-care hematology analyzer, as well as be applied broadly in biomedicine as a simple compact, low-cost, quantitative molecular imaging system.
深紫外（UV）显微镜能够实现无标记、高分辨率的定量分子成像，并在生物医学领域有着独特的应用，包括即时护理时进行快速血液学分析的潜力。UV显微镜已被证明能够量化血红蛋白含量和白细胞（五分类），为当前的金标准——血液分析仪提供了一种简单的替代方案。然而，此前的UV系统包含一个庞大的宽带激光驱动等离子体光源以及一个大型且昂贵的相机和三维平移台。在此，我们展示了一种具有紧凑占地面积和低成本组件的改进型深紫外显微镜系统。我们详细介绍了采用简单、廉价光学器件和硬件的新颖设计，以实现快速且准确的自动成像。我们对该系统进行了表征，包括一个改进的低成本网络摄像头和定制的自动三维平移台，并展示了其扫描和捕获大面积图像的能力。我们还通过对血涂片进行成像和分析，利用先前训练的网络进行自动分割、分类（包括白细胞五分类）和上色，进一步证明了该系统的能力。所开发的系统比之前的配置便宜约10倍，可作为即时护理血液分析仪，也可作为一种简单紧凑、低成本的定量分子成像系统广泛应用于生物医学领域。
