I finally received a Foldscope beta test kit. “Foldscope is an origami-based print-and-fold optical microscope that can be assembled from a flat sheet of paper,” according to the website. The Foldscope “can provide over 2,000X magnification with sub-micron resolution (800nm), weighs less than two nickels (8.8 g), is small enough to fit in a pocket (70 × 20 × 2 mm3), requires no external power, and can survive being dropped from a 3-story building or stepped on by a person.”

The kit came with instructions, perforated cardboard for the microscope assembly parts, lenses, magnetic strips to attach the microscope to a cell phone, and a light module. The kit includes and quite a few transparent stickers for preparing cardboard slides (several cardboard slides are included in the same perforated cardboard for the microscope assembly parts).

The instructions for assembling the microscope are detailed, complete, and easy to follow. They show how to assemble the microscope, how to install the light module, how to prepare the cardboard slides, and how to insert and view slides. You can use the cardboard slides included with the kit, prepared glass slides, or your own glass slides. There are also instructions on how to mount the microscope to your cell phone to shoot micrographs on your phone or use the phone’s flash to project the microscope’s image onto a table top. There are several instructional videos on how to assemble the microscope, how to prepare slides, and so on here.

Foldscope kit from Prakash Lab, Stanford University with cover letter from Stanford Bioengineering.

Foldscope, light module (detached), cardboard slide, and prepared slide.

Foldscope with prepared slide inserted.

The following is a comparison of images from my Leeuwenhoek microscope made from CD-ROM drive parts and the Foldscope (sample is human scalp, unpigmented). Both photos were shot with the same iPod.

Micrograph from Leeuwenhoek microscope made from CD-ROM drive parts .

Micrograph from Foldscope.

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