About This Project

Microscopes are one of the most important scientific tools. There are no shortage of low-cost microscope designs. However, different experiments need different types of microscope. Field microscopes must be robust enough for tough conditions, ideally they should be repairable in the field.

If we can design a microscope that can be built in a field station, we can be sure it will be repairable in a field station.

We will design a dissection microscope to allow in field identification of bees.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Open source hardware allow researchers and citizen scientists to build, control, and modify their own instruments. The OpenFlexure Microscope is one of the most reproduced open instruments having been built in over 50 countries. The OpenFlexure Microscope is designed to be built in Africa and is undergoing testing for malaria diagnosis.

In 2019 the OpenFlexure microscope was tested in the rain forest in Panama. While the microscope was able to survive the harsh conditions, the fine mechanical stage and high magnification of a microscope for malaria diagnosis were not ideal for tasks such as identifying orchid bees. A lower magnification dissection microscope is more commonly used for orchid be identification.

What is the significance of this project?

Robust, low-cost open-source scientific instrumentation vastly increases our ability to study nature. Well funded institutes in the Global North can afford expensive instrumentation, this access to equipment is not shared across the world. Many of the most important, and most threatened habitats in the world are in the Global South. A low-cost, easy to build, dissection microscope, that is both robust and high performance will help to level the playing field.

We will test the performance of the microscope by using it for field identification of orcid bees in the rain forest in Panama. Understanding the population dynamics of orcid bees can only be done with regular population monitoring. This project will make population monitoring more accessible.

What are the goals of the project?

We will design a robust and ergonomic dissection microscope with easy adjustable focus and magnification. This microscope will be distinct from the OpenFlexure Microscope, but will re-use elements of the microscope design and code. The entire design process will take place as an open source project allowing any research to contribute or comment throughout the process. The design will be entirely produced with Open Source Software, ensuring that anyone can contribute to the design. The design will be documented so that it can be easily reproduced.

Once the first iteration of the design is complete, the microscope will be built in a field station in Panama, and used to identify the orchid bee species near the field station. Feedback from field work will be used to improve the design.