SFU team develops lower-cost microscope

VANCOUVER — A new, cheaper microscope developed at Simon Fraser University has the potential to rapidly accelerate research on molecules, scientists say.

The mini-radio centrifuge force microscope is designed to test the strength of molecules and can complete a decade’s worth of experiments in a matter of days, said Nancy Forde, a physics professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby.

It also comes with an appealing price tag. The new microscope costs only $500 to build, compared with $150,000 for similar devices.

“There are just so many questions we’re able to answer now at a much faster rate,” Forde said. “It’s phenomenal.”

Forde’s research focuses on DNA and collagen molecules, the building block of tissue and skin.

Better understanding collagen allows researchers to develop solutions for health issues involving the molecule, Forde said.

But experiments for her research have long been onerous tasks, with previous equipment only allowing for the testing of two molecules per day.

Now that’s changing, thanks to the new microscope built by Mike Kirkness, a molecular biology and biochemistry PhD student at Simon Fraser University.

A study published this month in Biophysical Journal shows Kirkness was able to do 10,000 experiments in a matter of days with the new device.

The hand-sized portable and wireless microscope is much easier to work with than tablesized devices it was designed to emulate, Kirkness said.

Unlike microscopes most people imagine in science labs or classrooms, the mini-radio centrifuge force microscope doesn’t use light and slides because molecules are too small to see with that type of technology.

Instead, researchers place their choice molecule into a chamber in the device and add microscopic beads of other chemicals that tether the molecule to the glass chamber like a ball and chain, Kirkness explained.

The microscope is then placed in a centrifuge, a machine found in most labs that has a bucket that spins samples at a rapid speed.

A wireless camera built into the microscope sends an image to a computer so researchers can watch in real time the effect of applying force from the spinning and how the molecules are pulled apart, Kirkness said.

The device will have a big impact on researchers’ ability to do new screening tests on molecules and cells, Forde said.

The images generated don’t have the same high-quality resolution that table-sized devices offer, but the new microscope’s efficiency and cost make up for the shortcomings, Kirkness said.

Instructions on how to build the microscope have been published in Biophysical Journal and Kirkness said all of the parts are relatively easy to buy.

The researchers said they have already been contacted by scientists across North America who are interested in building their own devices.