Unique microscope that can be assembled in laboratory launched in Nairobi

Ayushi Chandaria with girls from Kariobaki North Girls when she visited to show them how to make microscope worthy Sh200, the usual price is over Sh50,000. PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE

NAIROBI: Despite it being late afternoon, the girl standing at the front of a classroom in Kariobangi North Girls Secondary School, a white paper in her hand, has the students’ undivided attention.

As Ayushi Chandaria begins what seems like a behemoth task of explaining what exactly she holds in her hand, the students’ curiosity is clearly etched on their faces.

You see, the paper in Ayushi’s hand is not ordinary, it is the first ever fold-able diagnostic microscope known as a Foldscope.

The students are now clearly caught up in a complex web of confusion as they try to come to terms with how a microscope would be so small compared to the conventional one they are used to.

The 17-year-old goes ahead to distribute the Foldscopes to the classroom as her father Neal Chandaria and school Principal Rhoda Ogaro look on.

“The Foldscope is a diagnostic microscope that uses light to detect blood-borne diseases and costs less than Sh100,” Ayushi says as she goes round explaining how it works.

She says the Foldscope is a print-and-fold optical microscope that is the first of its kind in the country. It can be assembled from a flat sheet of paper, which can be used to detect diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness among others.

Soon, the students go outside to collect leaves that they use as specimens to ascertain the Foldscope’s credibility and you can hear their excitement as they confirm that it does indeed work.

Speaking to us, Ayushi says that the Foldscope is the brainchild of Manu Prakash, a professor at Stanford University, who is now intent on getting the innovation here in Kenya.

In a statement sent to newsrooms, Professor Manu Prakash explains how the Foldscope operates: “Adding a watch battery, a light-emitting diode and an on/off switch to the Foldscope, equips it to diagnose blood-borne diseases all for under a dollar (less than Sh100)."

The statement further says that Prof Prakash developed the idea during medical need-finding trips to India, Thailand, Uganda and Nigeria. During these trips, he witnessed the deadly toll of infectious diseases including malaria, and noted that many of the remote villages could not afford conventional microscopes or rapid diagnostics tests.

“I realised that to make a real impact, we needed to deliver a disease-detection instrument that could almost be distributed for free,” Prakash said.

According to her father, it was Ayushi who contacted Stanford University regarding the Foldscope and that is how the idea of getting the microscope to schools was born.

“I was selected to implement this microscope project by Stanford University under their mentorship programme. I want to get this message across high schools in the country.

Students at Kariobangi North Girls and Moi Forces Academy were the first to be taught how to make and use the Foldscope but I will also be visiting other schools,” she says.

Principal Ogaro lauded the move saying having the Foldscope will go a long way in aiding the girls with their studies noting that it is also very affordable.

“This innovation has clearly generated interest among the girls and they are eager to use it. The fact that it goes for less than Sh100 also makes it attractive.

A regular microscope costs about Sh50,000 so having the Foldscope makes more sense because it does not compete for money with other needs such as food. With inventions like these, Kenya is surely set to make advances in the science and innovation sector,” she said.