Foldscope — Microscope for just 50 cents or 35 rupees. It is a low cost paper microscopy platform for education purposes. The Foldscope Team is made up of Five members from the Prakash Lab at Stanford University.
The Prakash Lab of Stanford University, a small team of graduate students led by bioengineering professor Manu Prakash, has created a portable paper microscope called the Foldscope. Originally conceived for disease detection in remote areas, it was later expanded for educational use.
The concept of the Foldscope won a $100,000 grant from the Gates Foundation in 2012 and a $50,000 first prize from the 2014 Moore Foundation Science Play and Research Kit Competition, which challenges participants to reinvent scientific tools of the past to attract a new generation of scholars. Speaking at the annual TED Conference in March 2014, Dr. Prakash announced that the concept was prototyped, functional, and could be manufactured for less than $1 each.
‘Company’s main aim is providing free microscope to the one who really needs but can’t afford, the one who has a genuine purpose for its use’.
The body is made of a material more like plastic than paper, to prevent tearing. Pieces are punched out of perforated sheets and assembled like origami. The kit also contained interchangeable low-magnification (140×) and high-magnification (400×) lenses, a 3V LED toggled light source, and a surprise: a coupler to connect to a cell phone for photomicrography.
Research details, photos, and feedback were sent to the Prakash Lab, along with design recommendations for making the device more ideal for gemological use.
An optional three- or four-inch fiber-optic light attachment would offer illumination from any angle, even for mounted stones. The Foldscope team has been very attentive to the feedback, although they have not committed to any alterations. No public release date or final price for the existing version has been announced. For more on this tool, visit www.foldscope.com.
