The lab in St. Louis received an Olympus VS120-S6 microscope and slide scanner. Microscopy is essential to study the effect of drugs on adult Onchocerca volvulus worms. However, drug-related morphological changes are sometimes difficult to differentiate from age-related changes of the worms. Unfortunately, is the technical expertise to judge worms in histological nodule sections vanishing and a small number of experts is scattered over three continents. So far, for independent reading of sections, slides have to be shipped around the world. Kerstin Fischer, DOLF’s microscopy expert, explains that the new technology does not only improve resolution of microscopy (see photo), but also enables cost-effective scanning of entire slides that can be conveniently shared via cloud or mass storage with other experts for examination on the computer. The viewing software is free for DOLF partner labs. This new technology will strengthen DOLF’s onchocerciasis clinical trials.
