» Articles » PMID: 40044761

3D Printed Miniature Attenuated Total Internal Reflection Assisted Fluorescence Microscopy

Overview
Journal Sci Rep
Specialty Science
Date 2025 Mar 5
PMID 40044761
Authors
Affiliations
Soon will be listed here.
Abstract

Imaging and sensing technologies are crucial in various fields, encompassing applications in cell and tissue analysis, DNA and RNA characterization, food and drug composition analysis, and forensic science. Instead of using complex and heavy conventional instruments to perform these analyses, lightweight, portable, and field-ready instruments have recently become commercially available. In this study, a miniature attenuated total internal reflectance fluorescence (mini-ATIRF) microscope has been demonstrated using a 3D printer. By utilizing evanescent field illumination and surface plasmon-coupled emission, the proposed mini-ATIRF microscope not only delivers fluorescence images four times brighter but also weighs 73% less than conventional fluorescence microscopy. Moreover, the manufacturing cost of the equipment is more than 95% cheaper.

References
1.
Diederich B, Lachmann R, Carlstedt S, Marsikova B, Wang H, Uwurukundo X . A versatile and customizable low-cost 3D-printed open standard for microscopic imaging. Nat Commun. 2020; 11(1):5979. PMC: 7688980. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19447-9. View

2.
Lee Y, Li S, Wisna G, Zhao J, Zeng Y, Tao A . Hyperbolic material enhanced scattering nanoscopy for label-free super-resolution imaging. Nat Commun. 2022; 13(1):6631. PMC: 9636421. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34553-6. View

3.
Del Rosario M, Heil H, Mendes A, Saggiomo V, Henriques R . The Field Guide to 3D Printing in Optical Microscopy for Life Sciences. Adv Biol (Weinh). 2021; 6(4):e2100994. DOI: 10.1002/adbi.202100994. View

4.
Bozhevolnyi , Smolyaninov II , Zayats . Near-field microscopy of surface-plasmon polaritons: Localization and internal interface imaging. Phys Rev B Condens Matter. 1995; 51(24):17916-17924. DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.51.17916. View

5.
Sung Y, Campa F, Shih W . Open-source do-it-yourself multi-color fluorescence smartphone microscopy. Biomed Opt Express. 2017; 8(11):5075-5086. PMC: 5695954. DOI: 10.1364/BOE.8.005075. View