Optical and embedded ML driven computational optimization of portable micro-volume spectrophotometer for biochemical analysis in resource-limited environment

Comprehensive biochemical analysis is an essential part of clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical development, and biomedical research. The gold-standard technique for such analysis is spectrophotometry, which has demonstrated excellent reliability, quantitative accuracy, and broad biomolecular sensitivity. Commercial micro-volume spectrophotometers, which are instrumental to applications with limited sample volumes, are often restricted to well-equipped laboratories due to the high cost and portability limitations especially in resource-limited settings. To address this gap, we propose a proof-of-concept, 3D-printed micro-volume spectrophotometer that integrates precision optics, microfluidic sample handling (8–15 µL), combined with spectral reconstruction and machine learning-based concentration estimation algorithm in a compact and affordable format. Preliminary validation of the proposed system based on bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein quantification via Biuret assay demonstrates strong agreement with commercial spectrophotometers (R2 > 0.91). With a production cost of approximately $36 and rapid measurement, the architecture provides a framework that can be extended to other absorbance-based biochemical assays ensuring accessible spectrophotometric systems for point-of-care and resource-limited applications, overcoming traditional limits of cost, sample volume, and portability.