Scientists at UCLA have created a lens-free microscope that relies on a silicon chip found in smartphones and digital cameras. You can't use it to snap a selfie, but it could help scientists detect cancer.

In a paper published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine, the research team shows that images taken with the lens-free microscope were just as capable of revealing cellular abnormalities in tissue samples as more traditional, and more expensive light microscopes.

"Our microscope provides the same level of quality as a state-of-the-art optical light microscope, and it has a significantly larger field of view, a simpler design, and it is more cost-effective," said Aydogan Ozcan, a professor of electrical engineering at UCLA and the senior author on the paper.

Ozcan's lab specializes in creatingcomputer codes that simplify the design of microscopes, nanoscopes and other instruments, and improve their performance.

His team recently created a device that turns a smartphone into a high-powered microscope capable of imaging individual DNA molecules. Another project turned Google Glass into a tool that can perform diagnostic tests on blood and tissue samples.

Like much of Ozcan's work, the design of the lens-free microscope borrows from existing technology.

"The bread and butter of this project is a CCD or CMOS imager, which is the same thin chip you find in every digital camera, whether it's a high-end SLR or a cellphone camera," he said.

The setup also requires a light source and a sample holder that keeps the slide hovering just a little above the chip. When the light shines down on the sample slide, the slide casts a shadow of the sample tissue onto the imaging chip.

You can get an idea of how this works by holding your hand above your desk and under a light source. The closer to the desk you put your hand, the more defined the shadow becomes. The shadow of your hand is solid, but because cells are translucent, their shadows are more detailed.

The shadow image the chip collects is a murky-looking holograph that bears little resemblance to what you would see if you looked at the same slide through a light microscope. After the image is captured, it is reconstructed with software developed by Ozcan's team that converts the messy patterns into an image that is at least as clear as what you would see through a traditional microscope.

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A lens-free microscope that borrows tech from your cellphone