Manipulating a diatom inside a Foldscope

Nov 21, 2015 • 2:20 AM UTC

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Microorganisms

Manu Prakash

I am a faculty at Stanford and run the Prakash Lab at Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University. Foldscope community is at the heart of our Frugal Science movement - and I can not tell you how proud I am of this community and grassroots movement. Find our work here: http://prakashlab.stanford.edu

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Yesterday; with the help of Paul, we went out in Monetrey Bay and did a plankton tow to pull out all kinds of things from the ocean. This was a 100micron screen; so we got a lot and lot of stuff. I have an infinite amount of microscopy to do – but I wanted to share a quick idea – I figured out that I could manipulate a single diatom by just playing around with the foldscope focus.

Here is a cyclotella; watch it rotate in the field of view. It’s going to divide soon – and hence you see the two frustals that will desperate out.
By applying pressure on the slide; I was able to generate a very gentle flow that flips the diatom around – and i get to see the diatom in its full glory.

If you look carefully; you will actually see some very subtle features including an exclusion zone of the outside plates, radial fibers and more.
Now; I have maybe 20 or so different species of diatoms I imaged. Inspired by work from @Laks; I will also organize that in a database.
Cheers
Manu