Tianheng ZHAO

Tianheng Zhao is a PhD student at the Bio-Inspired Photonics Laboratory at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge (http://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/group/vignolini/). He is also the co-founder of WaterScope (www.waterscope.org), a not-for-profit initiative that uses low-cost and open-source technology for rapid water testing and disease diagnostics. Tianheng’s motivation to positively impact the lives of the world’s poorest 3 billion people is mirrored by his work at WaterScope. WaterScope aims to provide low-cost, fast and user-friendly water testing kits to people lack access to clean drinking water, which is critical to solve the water crisis that 10% of world population suffer from. Using a 3D-printed microscope, bacterial contamination can be identified under 6 hours. Additionally, simplified bacterial collection and data analysis methods allow the tests to be conducted by anybody, in any location.