Researchers from Purdue University have developed a new type of microscope which may help clinicians determine the safety and efficacy of medication in the body. The microscope uses phase-contrast microscopy which converts phase shifts in light passing through a clear specimen to brightness changes in the image.
Research team leader and professor of analytical and physical chemistry, Garth Simpson, says, “One of the problems with using the available microscopes or optical devices is that they require a point of reference for the scattered light, since the object being viewed is too optically transparent to scatter the light itself. We created a unique kind of microscope that stacks the reference object and the one being examined on top of each other with our device, instead of the conventional approach of having them side by side."
The researchers added two optics to the base design of a conventional microscope in order to create their new microscope. "The microscope we have created would allow for better testing of drugs," Simpson said. "You could use our optical device to study how quickly and safely some of the active ingredients in a particular medication dissolve. They may crystallize so slowly that they pass through the body before dissolving, which significantly lowers their effectiveness."
Simpson believes that the new microscope has other uses in biological imaging as well as being able to study individual cells for medical testing. The Purdue research team’s findings are published in the February 18th edition of Optics Express.