FOM awards valorisation grant for research into lenseless microscopes
The FOM Foundation has awarded a valorisation grant to a consortium from the VU University Amsterdam under the leadership of Dr Stefan Witte and FOM workgroup leader professor Kjeld Eikema. With this grant they will investigate the possibilities of a new type of microscope and further develop the highly promising technology for other applications. Within LaserLaB at the VU University Amsterdam they have developed a microscope that produces quantitative phase-contrast images with a resolution at the micrometres level. What makes this microscope so unusual is that it contains no optical components, such as lenses. This mean a more compact, robust and cheaper microscope can be built. LaserLaB is working on this project together with the company Optics11. The grant from FOM provides 50,000 euros for the materials budget.
Phase contrast microscopy
Phase contrast microscopy is a vital technique for cell biology and clinical diagnostics. The development of phase contrast microscopy, introduced in the 1930s by Frits Zernike, meant a revolution for research in the life sciences: living cells can be visualised by detecting optical phase differences between cells. The microscopes used up until now, although vital for biomedical research and clinical diagnostics, have the disadvantage that they are large and need to be operated manually. They also contain relatively expensive optical components. Furthermore, the new microscope is better able to visualise separate stages of cell development over a longer period of time, which is important for monitoring the development of disease and how effective medicines are for patients .
Witte explains: "Because we understand how light propagates, we can also simulate the lenses in a microscope with a computer algorithm. However to do this we must not only know the intensity of the light that our camera measures but also the phase of the light field. This phase can be accurately determined by looking at the differences in the diffraction of light with different wavelengths. Thanks to that insight we can now build a small microscope that contains just three lasers and a camera. As the microscope is so small, you can place it in an incubator to monitor cell growth. We are also thinking about compact, lightweight microscopes for affordable diagnostic imaging at remote locations ."
Valorisation projects at FOM
FOM makes extra funds available through special 'Valorisation projects' to encourage knowledge utilisation from scientific research it has funded within university workgroups. With this initiative FOM is giving a boost to its ambition to let fundamental research contribute more to the Dutch knowledge economy whilst retaining its scientific quality. FOM strongly believes in the utilisation of the results from scientific research. Since 2010, FOM has awarded six valorisation grants. For further information please see this valorisation webpage.
Further information
For further information please contact Dr. Stefan Witte
LaserLaB, Department of Physics
VU University (Vrije Universiteit) Amsterdam
Telephone +31 (0)20 598 40 39.