132789Low-cost Fluorescence MicroscopeClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKA small, low cost fluorescence microscope will be developed for biomedical R&D. Existing fluorescence microscopes are expensive, >£5000 & cumbersome. They target high quality quantitative fluorescence imaging for development of specimens tagged with fluophores, often via genetic engineering. As this tagging technology has become mature, researchers are now using fluorescence in larger scale applications which require a small, easy to use tool for qualitative sample screening. Eg Manchester University (Development (2014) 141, 1514-1525) use tadpoles genetically engineered to express fluorescent proteins to study anti-infective mechanisms - They told us that they need to screen many tadpoles for the best fluorescence and need a small low-cost fluorescence microscope to do this – no such tool is available. Many researchers (eg K.Hedges, Humbolt State University) are resorting to DIY which is time consuming. We will develop 3 demonstrations of portable low-cost fluorescence microscopes and get feedback from 30 users. ioLight will then use this information to build prototypes and them products for sale. Imaging and Microscopy reports the optical microscope market to be $1.7Bn in 2018