Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a portable spectrometer cradle that can be attached to smartphones. The device uses the camera lens and light source of the smartphone to enable the spectrometer assembly in the cradle and measure the intensity and wavelength of the light similar to a lab spectrometer. The spectrometer cradle could instead incorporate its own low powered laser within the cradle as well. The smartphone biosensor can be used for various optical sensing applications, such as biosensing, absorption, and fluoresence assays, in the field as opposed to the lab. And since the device is smartphone based, information can be quickly disseminated through wireless means.