STEP #1: FOLDSCOPE ASSEMBLY

Jennifer Tellis, Savannah Baptist, Siddhi Parab,Maya Murdeshwar and Sujata Deshpande
St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Mumbai

“Endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful, have been and are being evolved”   ~ Charles Darwin.

To our group of 5 bio-explorers, the above quote holds deep significance. The diversity we see around us, leaves us in complete awe of nature’s creations. But there is a world out there that is not visible to the human eye without superior optical aids. It is – the Microscopic World! The diversity in this world of miniature life forms is much more profound. While several microscopic life forms have been identified and studied, innumerable ones remain hidden, waiting to be discovered. Discoveries in natural environments are especially left wanting as the tool of discovery – the compound light microscope – is a bulky, expensive piece of laboratory equipment difficult to lug around. Further, it necessitates the samples to be brought into the lab, away from their natural context.

And so,when we heard about ‘FOLDSCOPE’, we sat up straight and took note. A portable microscopemade out of paper was unheard of, an innovation that seemed to be just what the doctor ordered! A project was hurriedly written up and submitted, followed by an anxious year-long wait for the results. Great jubilation did the rounds when we were finally awarded the DBT-Foldscope Research Grant.

The objective of our research project is to explore the microscopic biodiversity in various ecological niches with the help of FOLDSCOPE. Each microhabitat harbours a unique set of microflora and microfauna. Given that FOLDSCOPE is a great tool in terms of on-site field study, our group aims to investigate the natural ‘micro-biodiversity’ that is so abundant, yet unknown to us. The possibilities are immense and exciting!

Performing origami to study science was a first-time experience for us. Assembling the 10 FOLDSCOPES took us about 2 hours… …and was indeed a lot of fun!

All smiles with our FOLDSCOPES
(L-R: Dr. Maya M., Dr. Sujata D., Jennifer T., Siddhi P., Savannah B.)

We are now eager to start exploring the microscopic diversity around us, using our freshly-folded FOLDSCOPES, and getting down to some exciting and interesting research!

Calvin sums up our emotions pretty well: