Design Problem Page

Problem Statement

Need for improved detection of Tuberculosis in low- and middle-income countries.

Goals:

• Create a tool to make medical screening more efficient and effective to respond to lack of medical technicians in the regions.

• Make screening for tuberculosis easier and require less training.

Objectives

Couple LED fluorescent microscopy with a Raspberry Pi to integrate an automated system to detect the disease in collected samples.

• Construct an automated LED fluorescence microscope for use in Malawi tuberculosis screening sites by completing the following steps:

  1. Refine and complete construction of the microscope stage such that it will move as directed and intended.

  2. Acquire reliable and consistent fluorescent images of Auramine-O stained samples.

  3. Store the image correctly for further processing.

  4. Automate a Raspberry Pi to detect the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and quantify the number of microbes from an image gathered from the microscope.

  5. Present the data to the user using a simple interface.

• Write up step-by-step instructions that explicitly state how to use microscope.