A microscope to image neurone activity and a 3D-printed fluorescence microscope were among the projects recognised by Edmund Optics in its 2017 educational award scheme.
The awards recognise outstanding undergraduate and graduate optics programmes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. They cover researchers in the Americas and in Europe.
In the Americas, the gold award of $10,000 in Edmund Optics products was given to Jinyang Liang at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, of Canada for the development of compressed ultrafast microscopy to image neurone activity in real time.
Daniel Leman at Boston University won the bronze award of $5,000 in Edmund Optics products for the design of a lightweight, 3D-printed, wireless-capable microscope for single photon fluorescence imaging in live animal studies.
The Edmund Optics educational award team evaluated more than 750 applications to select 30 global finalists. $45,000 USD in Edmund Optics products were awarded to the gold, silver, and bronze winners in the Americas and Europe, in support of their research.
Other work recognised included: a Raman spectrometer for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease from the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, of Argentina; a light pattern projector from the Universität Innsbruck, of Austria designed to disrupt host targeting in flying blood feeding insects; a smart optical malaria diagnostic instrument from Delft University of Technology; and a DLP projector to investigate signal processing in the human retina from Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, of Germany.
