Make your garage laboratory with a microscope during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dear editor,

The COVID-19 pandemic has directly or indirectly affected our lives as members of the global community. Innovation is needed for survival in a new era.

I am an otorhinolaryngologist working in a university hospital and a part-time researcher on cell therapy [1,2]. My ongoing job is to evaluate the effectiveness of cell therapy using an animal disease model. Histological assessment is at the core of the evaluation. However, as per the government's request to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection, I could not use the laboratory and microscope to observe tissue samples. Therefore, I purchased a cheap microscope for nonprofessionals (SW350B 40×-2500×; SWIFT, Carlsbad, CA, US) from Amazon for home use. The specifications have been summarized in Table 1. A small CCD camera (5.0 Megapixel Digital Camera; SWIFT) installed at the position of the eyepiece was connected to a PC to magnify the images and analyze them on the PC (Fig. 1). Although this microscope costs less than one-hundredth of the cost of a professional microscope (ECLIPSE E800; Nikon, Tokyo, Japan) used in my university lab, the quality of captured images is satisfactory for histological evaluations of tissue samples and is not inferior to those obtained with a professional microscope (Fig. 2). Furthermore, in the otolaryngology field, computed tomography (CT) analysis is often performed. In my home lab, the comparison of CT images and histological images of the same samples were successfully achieved on the same PC using free software (Image analysis: EasyView software, Swift, CT analysis: OsiriX DICOM Viewer, Pixmeo, Bernex, Switzerland) (Fig. 1). I was able to avoid the train journey to the university to access a workstation and microscope. It was convenient for me to check the tissue specimens as soon as ideas came to mind. Owing to the small desk space in the garage, I installed a small microscope (size: 13 × 9.1 × 18.1 inches, weight: 9.26 pounds). I also had to place the microscope where my infant could not reach it. The total investment was only $400; the nonprofessional microscope costed $300 and the CCD camera costed $100. I have reduced the risk of infection and achieved significant progress in my job, similar to the situation when sir Isaac Newton formulated universal laws of gravitation by re-examining his sketches of ideas in his hometown, leaving London where the universities were locked out due to the Great Plague [3]. I hope that your garage laboratory with a microscope will help you make the most of your creative time.

Table 1

Microscope specifications

Microscope Optics System:

Wide-field 10× and 25× eyepieces

4 objective lenses in a revolving nosepiece: 4×, 10×, 40× (spring), 100× (spring, oil)

Magnification levels: 40×, 100×, 250×, 400×, 1000×, 2500×

Interpupillary distance: 48–75 mm

Adjustable ocular diopter: +/− - 5dp

Microscope Components:

30° inclined, 360° rotatable binocular Siedentopf head

Mechanical stage with rack stop: 130 × 130 mm

Stage x-y travel range: 70 × 30 mm

NA 1.25 Abbe condenser with an iris diaphragm

Coaxial coarse and fine focus knobs

Transmitted illumination with 1W LED bulb with adjustable brightness

Power supply: 110–240 V power input

Fig. 1

Microscope for nonprofessionals for home use. Captured image connected to the PC with a small CCD camera. Comparison of CT images and histological images of the same samples on the same PC.

Fig. 2

Comparison of histological images using a microscope for nonprofessionals and professionals. Enlarged images (400×) in nonprofessional (A) and professional (B) microscopes.

Declaration of competing interest

The author declares no conflicts of interest.