In this paper, we propose a fluorescence detection system using a smartphone camera instead of photodiodes, which is widely used for fluorescence detection of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) chips. Along with the development of smartphones and open platforms, these cameras are superior to photodiodes in terms of performance, cost and size. This recently developed smartphone camera is applied to the fluorescence detection during the DNA amplification process. While the photodiode provides only an average brightness, the fluorescence distribution inside the PCR chips can also be investigated using the camera. Therefore, the cause of unsatisfactory experimental results as well as the degree of amplification of DNA can be determined. In addition to an example of investigating the chamber condition through photographed fluorescence, a curve of change in relative fluorescence intensity is presented according to the number of PCR cycles. The experimental results show that the proposed system can be used for real-time PCR systems.
In this paper, we propose a compact real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system for detecting fluorescence of PCR chips. Various fluorescence detection methods have been studied, but all require many optical components and optical distances. Therefore, this paper proposes a system to detect fluorescence by attaching LED and photodiode directly to reagent surface. This system is very compact and inexpensive because it requires no optical component except only excitation and emission filters. In order to optimize the performance of the proposed system, we investigated the placement of LEDs and photodiodes, the choice of filters, the signal amplification circuit, and air bubble problems during PCR amplification. Modification of the PCR protocol to obtain better results have also been studied. PCR amplification experiments on real DNA samples showed that the proposed system works well and compactness and portability are greatly increased compared to the conventional system.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.