We get to meet a bunch of wonderful people at the trade shows where we exhibit. While showing the uScope, we are constantly asked a number of questions over and over. I thought I'd share a few of these with you along with the answers.
The uScope is he result of nearly a decade of research into minimizing the size of precision optics and mechanics. We have a very knowledgeable engineering team who are experts at designing systems utilizing the latest manufacturing technologies. The uScope is a 100% original design using few (if any) third-party components. We are able to reduce size and complexity by controlling all aspects of the design and manufacturing process.
The more we use (overly) expensive parts, the more costs we have to pass along to the end-user. There must always be some level of mark-up required for each part used in the uScope. For that reason, we have chosen to use high-quality yet affordable parts in an effort to keep our end-user prices as low as possible.
We design and manufacture our own cameras using commercially available CMOS image sensors. We have considered using off-the-shelf cameras from various well-known camera manufacturers. However, we are capable of designing our own cameras using the same image sensors many of the high-end camera companies use but for a fraction of the price.
The short answer is, never. While we believe cost is a very important criteria for laboratory equipment, there is definitely a limit to how inexpensively technology can be manufactured. We use some commercial components (objectives, microprocessors, RAM, and so on) that are already priced very economically. But, they simply cannot be made less expensively.
What questions do you have about the uScope family of whole slide scanners? Email us or ask in the comments below.