New ultra-compact microscope that allows continuous real-time monitoring

Researchers at the University of Barcelona (UB) have developed a miniature microscope, the size of a chip, based on microelectronic technologies. This innovative device represents a paradigm shift, as it can be connected directly to the sample, unlike conventional microscopes that need to be transported to the device each time it is examined. In addition, it also allows real-time monitoring and simultaneous analysis of different samples while maintaining their culture conditions.

“This unique technology could have a transformative impact in different areas, from biomedical research or drug development, to water quality control or the wine production process,” explains Ángel Dieguez, project coordinator and professor in the Department of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering and member of the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the UB (IN2UB).

A more economical and efficient process

The microscope is based on a CMOS camera – a technology for the construction of integrated circuits that allows for great miniaturization – and a micro-screen with small LEDs that illuminate the object to create shadow images of the sample. These images are captured with a highly sensitive detector and processed with machine vision algorithms to extract information relevant to the user. “Thanks to the integration of the microscope with the samples, they can be monitored continuously. It also allows the parallel processing of multiple samples, therefore speeding up the whole process and improving efficiency and resources”, the researcher points out.

In addition, one of the advantages of the technology is that the analysis of the samples is carried out without the need for user intervention. In this sense, the research team also develops software driven by artificial intelligence to automate this analysis, adapted to the needs of each project in which the microscope is used.

A device to boost drug development

The characteristics of the new device mean that it has great potential in different areas of the health and biomedical sector. One of the lines where it is already being applied is accompanying the Organ on a Chip (OOC, abbreviation of the English word Organ-on-a-Chip) technology, a system that is beginning to be used as a substitute for studies with animals to accelerate the discovery of new drugs. It is a cell culture methodology that, using computer-controlled chips and sensors that measure cell metabolism, simulates the microenvironment and key functional aspects of living organs on a microscopic scale. “Organs such as the liver, for example, are artificially replicated from cells and tissues. In this way, the medicines tested in these OOCs could even be more reliable than the drugs that have been tested on animals, since animal organs are not exactly the same as humans and do not always have the same answers”, explains Ángel Dieguez .

In this context, the new ultra-compact microscope can be connected to each OOC of the experiment, “eliminating the need to transport samples from the incubator to the microscope, while reducing the consumables needed to carry out the entire procedure”, he explains the researcher

Professor Dieguez’s team is currently working on a project with the Bioengineering Institute of Catalonia (IBEC) to use this microscopy technique with OCCs that simulate different organs to study fatty liver disease and its impact on weight loss of muscle mass.

A tool to improve wine production

The new microscope is also being used to monitor the wine fermentation process in situ with the aim of obtaining an improvement in production and greater control of possible contaminating species. This real-time observation also incorporates automatic cell recognition technologies, which make it possible to automate processes that are traditionally manual and inefficient for wine producers. In this way, the new technology can help the companies participating in the project to reduce the economic costs caused by fermentation problems and minimize the waste of raw materials.

It is an initiative with the participation of the Catalan Institute of Vine and Wine (INCAVI) and Catalan wine cluster INNOVI, which will analyze fermentation with samples of wines from Catalan cellars.

Lower the manufacturing cost

One of the researchers’ current challenges is to make the manufacture of the device cheaper, which currently costs approximately 1,000 euros. With this aim, they are already working on the creation of a spin-off company to carry out the process of industrialization and commercialization of this unique microscope.