University's lens-free microscope wins award

NANJING - The Nanjing University of Science and Technology has unveiled a lens-free digital holography microscope "Cyte-Live" that it says can achieve high precision and a large field of view at the same time.

Developed by a team of students at the university, the instrument won the gold prize at the fifth China College Students' "Internet+" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition held last month in Zhejiang province.

Without a traditional optical lens, the instrument just contains a light source and a sensor. It is only 0.8 percent the size of a conventional microscope which is usually bulky and large, and can be easily lifted with one hand, said project leader Lu Linpeng, who is a doctoral candidate at the university.