Foldscope - paper microscope to diagnose malaria

According to the World Health Organization, in 2012 alone, there were nearly 207 million cases of malaria globally, of which 627,000 were confirmed dead. Unfortunately, this disease occurs primarily in developing countries, where diagnostic equipment may be lacking. Doctors will not be able to determine what kind of malaria patients are suffering from, thus leading to ineffective treatments.

>>>Video: Microscope with paper Foldscope

Manu Prakash, associate professor of biological engineering at Stanford University School of Medicine, hopes to change this by using a microscope made of paper that can be folded and used immediately.

Called Foldscope , the device can be assembled on the spot in minutes from a set of paper cut components. The device is made mainly from cardstock paper except for the pea-sized mirror sphere. Lenses are actually a type of grinding glass that is often used to shuttle the edges of a piece of metal.

With simple and available materials, Foldscope costs about 50 cents. The use of the device is equally simple. According to Stanford: "A sample (blood) will be placed on a glass plate and inserted in the middle of the microscope's paper layers. Users use their thumb and forefinger to clamp the ends of the device and bring it close enough to the eye until the glass touches the eyebrows The correction and adjustment of position of the specimen can be done by bending and sliding the bottom paper base with the fingers, due to the unique optical properties of the mirror. protruding bridges when placed near the eyes, test samples can be magnified up to 2000 times. "

In addition, dyes may be added to the test sample to detect specific bacterial organisms. A clock battery LED can be added to the device to project images onto the wall.

Not only cheap and easy to use, Foldscope is also quite durable and can easily be disposed with samples after 1 time of use. In addition to the ability to help doctors diagnose blood sugar diseases such as malaria, Prakash hopes the device will be exploited according to educational programs, inspiring children to become scientists.