Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States of America.
Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Department of Bionanotechnology, Bornse Weilanden, University of Wageningen, Wageningen, NL.
PLoS One. 2024 Oct 16;19(10):e0306654. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306654. eCollection 2024.
Microscopy is essential for detecting, identifying, analyzing, and measuring small objects. Access to modern microscopy equipment is crucial for scientific research, especially in the biomedical and analytical sciences. However, the high cost of equipment, limited availability of parts, and challenges associated with transporting equipment often limit the accessibility and operational capabilities of these tools, particularly in field sites and other remote or resource-limited settings. Thus, there is a need for affordable and accessible alternatives to traditional microscopy systems. We address this challenge by investigating the feasibility of using a simple microcontroller board not only as a portable and field-ready digital microscope, but furthermore as a versatile platform which can easily be adapted to a variety of imaging applications. By adding a few external components, we demonstrate that a low-cost ESP32 camera board can be used to build an autonomous in situ platform for digital time-lapse imaging of cells. Our prototype of this approach, which we call ESPressoscope, can be adapted to applications ranging from monitoring incubator cell cultures in the lab to observing ecological phenomena in the sea, and it can be adapted for other techniques such as microfluidics or spectrophotometry. Our prototype of the ESPressoscope concept achieves a low power consumption and small size, which makes it ideal for field research in environments and applications where microscopy was previously infeasible. Its Wi-Fi connectivity enables integration with external image processing and storage systems, including on cloud platforms when internet access is available. Finally, we present several web browser-based tools to help users operate and manage our prototype's software. Our findings demonstrate the potential for low-cost, portable microscopy solutions to enable new and more accessible experiments for biological and analytical applications.
显微镜对于检测、识别、分析和测量小物体至关重要。获得现代显微镜设备对于科学研究至关重要，特别是在生物医学和分析科学领域。然而，设备成本高、部件有限且运输设备面临挑战，这些因素常常限制了这些工具的可及性和运行能力，特别是在野外地点和其他偏远或资源有限的环境中。因此，需要有经济实惠且易于使用的替代传统显微镜系统的方法。我们通过研究使用简单的微控制器板不仅作为便携式和现场就绪的数字显微镜，而且还作为一个通用平台，可轻松适应各种成像应用的可行性来解决这一挑战。通过添加一些外部组件，我们证明了低成本的 ESP32 相机板可用于构建用于细胞数字延时成像的自主原位平台。我们将这种方法称为 ESPressoscope 的原型，可以适应从监测实验室孵育箱细胞培养到观察海洋生态现象等各种应用，并且可以适应微流控或分光光度法等其他技术。ESPressoscope 概念的原型实现了低功耗和小尺寸，使其非常适合以前无法进行显微镜研究的野外研究环境和应用。其 Wi-Fi 连接功能可实现与外部图像处理和存储系统的集成，包括在有互联网接入的情况下集成到云平台上。最后，我们介绍了几个基于网络浏览器的工具，以帮助用户操作和管理我们原型的软件。我们的研究结果表明，低成本、便携式显微镜解决方案有可能为生物和分析应用带来新的、更易于使用的实验。
