A team of physicists and engineers at the University of Strathclyde, in Scotland, working with a colleague from the University of Glasgow, has developed the means for 3D printing a microscope, including the lens, for under $60. In their paper posted on the bioRxiv preprint server, the group describes how they came up with the plans for the microscope and notes that the end result has a resolution strong enough to make out individual blood cells in test samples.

A team of physicists and engineers at the University of Strathclyde, in Scotland, working with a colleague from the University of Glasgow, has developed the means for 3D printing a microscope, including the lens, for under $60.

The cost of high-resolution microscopes can be prohibitively high for millions of students and researchers around the world. In this new study, the researchers in Scotland have developed plans, available for free online, that can be used to 3D-print a fully functional, high-resolution microscope.