UCF researchers have developed absorption spectroscopy technology to measure samples at the micron and single cell level. Conventional optical probe technology required samples larger than micron size, limiting usability in fields with finite samples, including forensic analysis. This new technology is non-destructive to the sample, for continued testing and maximized data results. Researchers also note a practical and robust application for determining variation among a few microns to detect malaria and monitor fluids for blood bank quality, pregnancy, and AIDS testing.

Technical Details

Previously, micro-spectroscopy could not practically analyze a single-cell sample when unwanted stray light fell outside the absorption perimeter, letting too much light through the system. Micron level and single cell analysis can now benefit from an alternative to non-micro-spectroscopy optic analysis. Typical methods generally require labeling a sample with foreign markers, and are limited by the effect of photobleaching and quenching, where reduced output for analysis is inherent at the level of light exposure necessary to measure the sample. This technology combines a white light, capturing as broad a spectroscopy bandwidth as possible, and an algorithm-modeled lens in place of a typical microscope, correlating the scope of light to micron-scale samples.