A smartphone-based diagnostic analyzer for point-of-care milk somatic cell counting

Mastitis, a pervasive and detrimental disease in dairy farming, poses a significant challenge to the global dairy industry. Monitoring the milk somatic cell count (SCC) is vital for assessing the incidence of mastitis and the quality of raw cow's milk. However, existing SCC detection methods typically require large-scale instruments and specialized operators, limiting their application in resource-constrained settings such as dairy farms and small-scale labs. To address these limitations, this study introduces a novel, smartphone-based, on-site SCC testing method that leverages smartphone capabilities for milk somatic cell identification and enumeration, offering a portable and user-friendly testing platform. The central findings of our study demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for counting milk somatic cells. Its on-site applicability, facilitated by the microfluidic chip, optical system, and smartphone integration, heralds a paradigm shift in point-of-care testing (POCT) for dairy farms and smaller laboratories. This approach bypasses complex processing and presents a user-friendly solution for real-time SCC monitoring in resource-limited settings. This device boasts several unique features: small size, low cost (