The Phycologist Reviews ioLight Portable Microscopes

Phycologist Francis Bunker reviewed the ioLight microscope in edition 97 of the Phycologist – the Newsletter of the British Phycological Society.

If you type Phycology into Google it unhelpfully returns ‘do you mean psychology?’ No we don’t! Phychology is the study of algae, a large, fascinating group of photosynthetic organisms ranging in size from the microscopic single cell species up to the enormous kelp that form forests on the ocean floor. As with most branches of botany, pychology is a vital indicator of the health of the environment and of global warming, so we were keen to hear what Francis would make of our portable microscope.

Francis took the ioLight microscope to Hazelbeach to try on some fieldwork he was doing for Natural Recourses Wales surveying seaweed on the rocky shore of Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation. Francis often travels with a binocular microscope, which he took as hand luggage to Shetland last year and it caused all sorts of inconvenience going through security and caring for it in general.

The ioLight microscope is small enough to fit in a jacket pocket and displays 1 micron resolution images on the screen of any mobile phone. From the phone images can be shared instantly to colleagues anywhere.

Using the microscope on the beach

Arriving at the beach, it took Francis just 10 minutes to get the microscope out of his rucksack, prepare a sample under a coverslip in a drop of water and view an image on the screen of his mobile phone. We think the images he captured are beautiful.

I had the pleasure of meeting Francis in person at the British Phycological Society Annual Meeting in Plymouth in January. He kindly collected some more samples for us to demonstrate on the ioLight stand the following day, expertly sectioned by Prof. Juliet Brodie of the Natural History Museum.

Conclusions

Francis reviewed the ioLight microscope “For use in remote locations and where microscopes and lab facilities are not available, the ioLight is a fantastic development.” he concluded “In my line of work, I can see the ioLight becoming an essential part of my field kit.”

We are very grateful to Francis Bunker for his review, to Juliet Brodie for her time at the BPS meeting and to Amanda Burson for publishing the article in the Phycologist. Members can view Francis’ article in edition 97 in your members area of the website and those who are not members can join for just £10.50 at the British Phycological Society website.