Foldscope as a Research Tool in the Diagnosis of Fungal Leaf Spot Diseases

A foldscope is a one-dollar microscope which is creating ripples in the education sector and research institutes across the country due to its portability and cost. This microscope was developed by the team led by Manu Prakash, at the Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, in 2014. It is origami-based ultraaffordable, paper microscope, designed to be extremely portable, durable, and to give optical quality similar to conventional research which can magnify up to 2000 × (ref. 1), it can be attached with mobiles to capture images. In India, this microscope was endorsed by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and was introduced on a large scale for student and scientific community across the country to carry out research in different domains of science like biodiversity, food and nutrition, human health, environment, pollution, animal health, agriculture, etc. Application of this low-cost microscopy technology to a different domain of microscopic study would help people better understand the microscopic world around us including microorganisms and bring hands-on microscopy to the fields further enhancing scientific temperament among the masses.