Developing the OpenFlexure Microscope towards medical use: technical and social challenges of developing globally accessible hardware for healthcare

The OpenFlexure Microscope is an accessible, three-dimensional-printed robotic microscope, with sufficient image quality to resolve diagnostic features including parasites and cancerous cells. As access to lab-grade microscopes is a major challenge in global healthcare, the OpenFlexure Microscope ha...

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Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences Vol. 382; no. 2274; p. 20230257
Main Authors: Knapper, Joe, Whiteford, Freya, Rosen, Daniel, Wadsworth, William, Stirling, Julian, Mkindi, Catherine, Mduda, Joram, Sanga, Valerian L, Nyakyi, Paul T, Mboa Nkoudou, Thomas Hervé, Jafsia, Elisée, Fadanka, Stephane, Hummel, Kelsey, Anandasabapathy, Sharmila, Bowman, Richard
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England 09.07.2024
Subjects:
Delivery of Health Care
Equipment Design
Humans
Microscopy - instrumentation
Microscopy - methods
Point-of-Care Systems
Printing, Three-Dimensional - instrumentation
Robotics - instrumentation
Robotics - statistics & numerical data
Robotics - trends
Software
global health
open source
microscopy
pathology
ISSN:1471-2962, 1471-2962
Online Access:Get more information
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Summary:The OpenFlexure Microscope is an accessible, three-dimensional-printed robotic microscope, with sufficient image quality to resolve diagnostic features including parasites and cancerous cells. As access to lab-grade microscopes is a major challenge in global healthcare, the OpenFlexure Microscope has been developed to be manufactured, maintained and used in remote environments, supporting point-of-care diagnosis. The steps taken in transforming the hardware and software from an academic prototype towards an accepted medical device include addressing technical and social challenges, and are key for any innovation targeting improved effectiveness in low-resource healthcare. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Open, reproducible hardware for microscopy'.
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ISSN:1471-2962
1471-2962
DOI:10.1098/rsta.2023.0257