COVID19 tools to enable contact free advanced microscopy, remote training and technical support while maintaining physical distancing.
This proposal aims to develop contact free microscopy, remote training and technical support and an artificial intelligence agent to monitor, adapt and improve microscopy training material and the overall training experience. Contact free microscopy will minimize the burden of complex cleaning protocols in the COVID‑19 period. The training programs and software and hardware tools developed here will enable high quality personalized remote training and technical support for researchers to access fundamental and advanced microscopy technologies for COVID‑19 research and research in other important fields immediately. Importantly, this can happen even before physical distancing rules are lifted without the need for in person contact. Proof of principle experiments demonstrate voice control of the microscope, training in basic features such as how to set up image acquisition in three dimensions and automated technical support with wearable technologies. Our partners Carl Zeiss Canada and Beam Me Up Labs are committed to providing software access, software development and technical support, AI technology and support for continued improvement of the tools we will develop. Their partnership and contributions are essential to enable the project. Everything required to test and adopt the technology is ready to assist the McGill University Advanced BioImaging Facility (ABIF) get back to full operations safely. The technologies will be disseminated and applied throughout Canada and internationally through the vast bioimaging networks and training expertise of the team.
