Smart, reproducible, open microscopy for the world

Our homes and offices are increasingly automated, but laboratories at the forefront of scientific progress are frustratingly full of people doing routine tasks. This is not only an inefficient use of highly skilled people, it also achieves much lower throughput than automated systems, and with much more room for bias and error. The OpenFlexure project aims to use simple but effective automation tools to make laboratory research more repeatable, more resource-efficient, and much faster.

This PhD project will see the student join the core team developing the open hardware and software that brings this technology to labs around the world, including many places where scientific and medical infrastructure is typically lacking.

This project will build on the strong foundation of the OpenFlexure and LabThings projects to make labs smarter and easier to automate. The OpenFlexure Microscope is a computerised microscope that can be built with very modest facilities, and used for serious research applications. We are also working with manufacturers to help them incorporate our designs into medical diagnostic products in several countries including Tanzania.

This is exciting not only because it could improve the quality and throughput of diagnostic microscopy, but also because manufacturing microscopes locally builds jobs and improves supply chains.

The OpenFlexure Microscope design is now well tested and has been replicated hundreds of times around the world. The time has come for this base design to grow into a platform for advanced imaging modes, and for us to connect with a variety of applications in life sciences research, healthcare, and industry. This PhD student will work on hardware and software development, as well as working closely with scientists and healthcare professionals to use open tools from the physical sciences to solve real-world problems in other disciplines.

Specific activities to be carried out as part of this PhD project include developing and documenting novel imaging modes (e.g. stereoscopic, confocal, fluorescence lifetime) on the OpenFlexure Microscope, thereby making them more accessible and repeatable.

The open approach of this project has led to a global community forming around the OpenFlexure designs. This work will not only be disseminated through academic papers and conferences, but will be immediately picked up, replicated, and used around the world through our online forums and repositories.