Table 6 Examples of lab-on-a-phone applications

Phone LED and camera + 4 external lenses and mirrors

Mie scattering simulation online

Immunoagglutination (Mie light scattering)

PfHRP malaria biomarker

Human blood

Microbeads

1 pg/mL–10 ng/mL

[144]

LOD 1 pg/mL

Computational power + external optical fiber + LED

Phone application

Fluorescence

Genomic DNA

Escherichia coli and Staphylococus aureus

Microfluidics

Comparable to that of commercial PCR

[138]

Phone camera

Phone app

Colorimetry

HE4 (ovarian cancer biomarker)

Urine

Microchip

89.5% sensitivity, 90% specificity

[139]

2 external LEDs + phone camera

Phone app

Colorimetry

Peanut

Cookies

Sample holder

< 1 ppm

[140]

External LED + phone camera + additional lens

Phone application

Fluorescence

Escherichia coli

Milk, water

Glass capillary

5–10 cfu/mL

[141]

External LED and optical fibers

Phone app

Immunochromatography (Mie scatter)

Thyroid stimulating hormone

Human serum

Nitrocellulose test strip

0.31 mIU/L

[142]

Phone camera + external LED

Computer

Colorimetry

Human IgG

Human IgG sample

Microfluidics, silver deposition

n/a

[143]

Snap-on attachment (lens + LEDs) + phone camera

Phone app

Immunochromatography

Malaria biomarkers

Whole blood

Rapid test diagnostic strips

4 × dilution c.f. RDTs

[145]

3 external attachments + lenses + LED + phone camera

Phone application

Fluorescence

Cell count

Blood

Sample holder

600–2500 white cells/image

[146]

400–700 red cells/image

Phone camera

Phone app

Colorimetry

pH

Test strip

n/a

[147]

External LEDs and photodiode

Phone app

Colorimetry

Glucose

Urine

Paper strips

0–250 mg/dL

[148]

LOD 10 mg/dL

Snap-on attachments (lens + LED) + phone camera

ImageJ on computer

Fluorescence

Prostate specific antigen (PSA)

Whole blood

Microfluidics

Dynamic range 0.08–60 ng/mL

[149]

LOD 0.4–0.04 ng/mL