Team:Rotterdam HR/hardware
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iGEM Rotterdam HR 2019
Hardware
Introduction
More than 40% of the plastics we are producing, are only used once. Even biodegradable plastics are not a good alternative. In the cold, low-oxygen environment of a garbage dump or in cold ocean water, such a plastic does not appear to break down. Because of these reasons we started creating a health risk detection kit, that will be biodegradable.
Design
Figure 1: First idea sketches.
Together with other design students, we created a different kind of ideas for the HDRK. With those sketches, we decided to make 3 different concepts.
Figure 2: Concept 1.
Figure 3: Concept 2.
Figure 4: Concept 3.
Concept 3, the test with display, got shot down. The main reason, it would be a bit too expensive if the user throw the whole product away after every single use. For the two main designs, the team suggested a combination of the two: the design of the analog test and the material of the decomposable test. With this feedback we created the first HRDK.
Figure 5: First poster of HRDK and our stellation at Future Flux Festival.
http://www.futurefluxfestival.nl/industry-day/health-risk-detection-kit-hrd/
At the Future Flux, we presented our first idea to get some feedback, to develop our product and process. The most important points were: how many checks, size of the test and how to use the HRDK.
Figure 6: Difference in size of the first HRDK and the last HRDK.
After we have received all the feedback, we started to make a new design. In this design (8), we could intergrade four detection systems. Two extra control points are required for reliability: one positive and one negative control. The channels must also be of the same length. For capillary working, we have to make the channels smaller.
Image 7: First engineering.
We changed the model with these requirements. Only after we showed this test to Jos (instructor) he suggested making 4 more viewpoints to see the substrate.
Image 8: Second engineering.
Image 9: Third engineering.
App
The app would be a tool to understand the tests and to save the results. With this app you can see the first steps when tested positive.
But what if you want to use the test, and you don’t have a phone?
In the package leaflet, an explanation can be given about how the test works and how you can read it.
How to see you tested positive or negative? You are going to test 4 different kinds (for example) of e.Coli viruses.
Image 10: Future concept app and results by normal tests.
Material research
We tested 3 sorts of papers in stagnant water: paper, toilet paper, and egg-box cardboard. After 3 months only the toilet paper and egg box cardboard have changed. The toilet paper has been turned in tiny fibers.
Image 11: Test degradability and test degradability after 3 months.
Image 12: Difference in paper fibers after 5 minutes stirring the water.
The coating will be made of (seaweed/plants) sodium alginate, a gel membrane made from brown algae.
Image 13: Sodium alginate and coating material.
Production
First, we made pulp(18) out of 5 different papers: toilet paper, paper towel, egg boxes cardboard, paper, and recycled toilet paper. We also tested how the papers break down in water. After making the pulp I 3D printed a press mold. The paper has been pressed in the molds(20) and afterward dried by fohn. This way we tested the strength of the papers.
Image 14: Paper pulp.
Image 15: Pressing the pulp in the mold and dried tests.
First, we tried to make a small one, after these tests we created the last version of the HRDK.
Downloads
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Future of HRDK
To make HRDK a real product we have to do a lot more tests, research and make a real testable device. We can combine the idea of company Bumaga, which uses a card in which an electrical current can pass and be detected. Inside this card, there are electro-conductive wires embedded, which can detect small electrical differences. When the split-TEV protein connects to each other, it will require energy, and this energy can then be detected with this card. The next step is to hold the card over your phone while having our app open and get the results on your phone. Now we have to use a pipet that isn’t biodegradable, so maybe we can use biodegradable materials to redesign pipets.
