You can now turn an old iPhone into a 3D medical imaging device for less than the cost of a video game.
April 16, 2026
Original Paper
Inexpensive Optical Projection Tomography on a Mobile Phone Platform
arXiv · 2604.13004
The Takeaway
3D optical microscopy usually requires a lab full of equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars. These researchers built a version using a smartphone, a $50 lens, and some 3D-printed plastic that can see things smaller than a human cell (3.91 microns). It turns a consumer gadget into a high-end scientific tool that can produce 3D scans of biological samples. This is a game-changer for doctors in remote areas or schools with no budget. It proves that the most powerful scientific tools don't have to be expensive; they just need a little bit of clever engineering.
From the abstract
This work presents an inexpensive optical projection tomography (OPT) system built on a mobile phone platform for three-dimensional optical microscopy. The system uses an iPhone camera together with a low-cost commercial microscope lens attachment, a stepper motor for sample rotation, LED illumination, and custom 3D-printed components, with a total component cost of approximately 50 US dollars excluding the phone. To support system evaluation, we also developed a low-cost method for fabricating