Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) have collaborated with Finnish company Multitouch Ltd to create a giant touch and gesture controlled microscope.
The Multitouch microscope uses a combination of web based microscopy and a 46-inch multitouch display to create what researcher Dr Johan Lundin calls “an iPad on steroids.” A useful tool for interactive teaching and learning, the microscope allows users to zoom in or out with a two handed stretch or pinch gesture – all the way down to 1000x magnification.
Web based virtual microscopy was developed a few years ago by the Universities Of Helsinki and Tampere. It works with biological samples which are digitized using a microscopy scanner and then stored on an image server. The virtual slide which is created is composed of up to 50000 separate digital images organized into a mosaic of the sample at high magnification. The image size of these samples can be up to 200 gigabytes and the image mosaic can be viewed over the internet using a web browser on your computer, smart phone or in this case – a 46-inch interactive screen.