Fluorescence microscopy is a type of imaging where the emission signal from fluorophores such as molecules, quantum dots, nanoparticles, etc. is used to visualize cells and structures on a microscopic ...

“Raman spectroscopy and fluorescence are really powerful tools with complementary advantages and disadvantages,” says Wei Min, a chemistry professor at Columbia University who led the research.

In fluorescence microscopy, cells are treated with various fluorescent dyes that can be excited with light at one wavelength and emit light at another.

A device that can convert a smartphone or tablet into a fluorescence microscope for less than US $50 is presented in a proof-of-principle study in Scientific Reports. The authors suggest that the ...