Turning Mobile Phones
Into Medical Devices

Robi Maamari stares intently at the screen of his mobile phone. The student is not squinting to tap out yet another daft text message, but looking carefully for the faint blue dots that are the tell-tale diagnostic signature of malaria. Maamari is a member of a research team led by Berkeley Lab physical bioscientist Dan Fletcher, which has developed a cheap attachment to turn the digital camera on many of today's mobile phones into a microscope. Called a CellScope, it can show individual white and red blood cells, which means that with the correct stain it can be used to identify the parasite that causes malaria. Moreover, by transmitting an image directly over the mobile network, the CellScope could greatly help with the remote diagnosis and monitoring of many illnesses. Full story.

Help Others Through
Blood Drive, China Aid

Chemist Wins Dreyfus
Award for Education

Arnold

The Dreyfus Foundation has awarded a grant to UC Berkeley professor and Berkeley Lab chemical scientist John Arnold to support undergraduate education and research. Arnold will receive a a $50,000 award for his project entitled “Materials Chemistry in the Undergraduate Laboratory: Synthesis, Characterization and Properties.” Go here for more information. Arnold will also chair the Royal Society of Chemisty Dalton Division meeting on main group chemistry to be held June 23-25 on campus. The Dalton Division promotes the study and dissemination of all aspects of inorganic chemistry. The meeting will bring together an international group of scientists interested in main group chemistry and the interface with transition metal chemistry and materials. Full story.

Keasling

Video With Kammen,
Keasling on Energy

An illuminating lecture on the discovery of alternative energy solutions was offered by UC Berkeley professor Dan Kammen and Berkeley Lab Physical Biosciences Division Director Jay Keasling as part of Cal’s homecoming festivities last October. The College of Chemistry videotaped the discussion and it is now available online. The speakers discuss such topics as the recently established California Institute for Climate Solutions, a collaboration between the University of California and the state’s Public Utilities Commission, and the use of synthetic biology to create scalable and cost-effective alternative fuel sources. Go here to watch the video.