Foldscope: A microscope for everyone

Imagine a bookmark-sized device that is made of paper and can be attached to a phone to view the microscopic world-this is the Foldscope. This foldable micro-optics–embedded device costs less than $2 and has the capability to magnify an object more than 140 times its original size, with a resolution of 2 microns. This resolution is enough to view bacteria, parasites, plant structures, blood cells, etc.

Prof. Manu Prakash and Dr. Jim Cybulski at Stanford University, USA, are the co-developers of the Foldscope. Working together at Prakash Labs, they have provided a clear path forward for viewing the microscopic world, well beyond the 500-year-old conventional microscope technology. Utilizing basic principles of optics and origami, the researchers came up with the design for the Foldscope. Three essential components-an illuminator, a sample holder, and an optical viewing device are created by folding paper and then pieced together. Adding in a combination of lenses yields a user-friendly device that can be used without the requirement of external power sources. The tool, which is available for everyone, has already reached a million users spanning across ~145 countries. Apart from its popular use in science education, the Foldscope is also considered a radical new technology that might improve public health, especially in the developing world. At present, there are several investigations into its diagnostic applications in order to provide cheaper alternatives to current methods reported in scientific journals. However, real-world applications are yet to take off. 

It is also amazing how the Twitter community is posting interesting microscopic pictures and real-time videos under tags like #foldscope. These allow easy access to the beautiful and intricate scientific nature of microorganisms. Access to such information also raises curiosity among students who don’t have accessibility to traditional microscopes. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India and Prakash Labs have signed a memorandum to bring the Foldscope to India. Rafikh Shaikh, a Foldscope Fellow at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai is a prolific user and student trainer of the Foldscope. He claims, “Children are curious by nature, they explore the world around them and construct knowledge. Frugal tools like Foldscope (a paper microscope) help children in their inside school and out of school explorations. As Foldscope is small and can fit in a pocket, children can carry it anywhere. Unlike a traditional microscope, you don't have to carry a sample to the lab, you can observe it on the spot. Each observation answers some questions and raises more questions feeding into a child's curiosity-driven explorations. We have seen school children using Foldscope and online community websites to understand their surroundings and also connecting it with the school science”.

Due to the inexpensive nature of and easy access to this useful technique, there could be many possibilities of scientific applications the Foldscope can offer. During a recent interview with Eric Topol of Medscape, Prof. Manu Prakash described his vision for the Foldscope, termed Octopi (Open Configurable high-Throughput Platform for Infectious diseases).“One of the big things I am excited about that is not yet public is that we will be announcing the 100 Octopi Program. One of the challenges with AI is what data you train with. Real-time data coming from the field, from the context, is always a challenge because many times the hardware has switched, so you trained on one hardware, and then suddenly it's a different hardware,” he stated. With the Octopi program, Prof. Prakash aims for high-speed detection of diseases such as malaria.

The Foldscope is on the right track to revolutionize the 500-year-old technology. Not only does this invention provide a visual treat of the microscopic world that is not accessible to the naked eye, but it also offers diagnostic use in healthcare applications. The Foldscope is definitely a scientific innovation for everyone.

Old wisdom new tools

Some of the shapes depicted in ancient artifacts that were invisible to the human eye came into view with the advent of 20th-century tools. Some being nano and microstructures. These tools also help chemists to see the formation of chemical bonds in real-time. 

The rapid development of modern nano-technological tools such as the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM), and Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope (LSCM) allow scientists to invent, explore and validate old scientific discoveries. From the perspective of scientists involved with chemistry, it helps to manipulate atoms and molecules precisely for the fabrication of macroscale products as well as to look at the real-time covalent bond formation in a single molecule. Observing chemical reactions by force microscopy at sub-molecular resolution has been reported by de Oteyza et al. They reported the atomically resolved imaging of a complex molecule as it undergoes a chemical reaction on a metal surface.

In addition to the normal covalent bond formation, very recently Wilson Ho et.al., revealed the image of hydrogen bonding in porphyrin molecules using chemically modified STM tip, enlightening us with the rapid advance in this field. These developments will have a huge impact in nanoscience especially in the field of single molecular electronics and bottom-up fabrications. This new evolution of molecular nanotechnology will bring chemists, physicists, engineers, and biologists together.

How practical is it to prove old theories with modern, technologically advanced tools? Is it really possible? However, if it is indeed possible, would it be a landmark achievement that would push chemistry into a new era, in the coming years? Let me exemplify. Mayan blue is a bright blue pigment that had been used by Mayans about 2000 years ago to paint murals. The distinct feature about these murals is that the Mayan-blue has withstood the wrath of weather over centuries, and refuse to fade even to this day. on the On the other hand, even the most advanced of paints of today, tend to wear off after a couple of years of harsh weather and negligent maintenance. This is a phenomenon that has baffled scientists for several years. They were able to gain some insight into this in the recent past with the help of modern nanotechnological tools. The Mayan dye is based on Indigo dye, which is trapped in a porous fame work of clay called palygorskite. The silicate hull forms a protective layer around the dye molecules. This prevents the dye pigments from directly interacting with the forces of nature and other interferences such as organic solvents, acid, and alkali treatment, etc.

It is the Mayan's ingenuity at developing the pigments for Mayan blue that has set them eons beyond outreach. Reverse engineering could help us understand its structure and shed some light into the properties of advanced hybrid materials. Maybe, the day is not far off when we are able to decode this chemical phenomenon and come up with commercial paints that will last forever.