"I am a biology student. I like the subject and have been following it since early high school. However, we only read books and practised theory without being able to get much practical experience. We had glassware and a few pipettes, but that was pretty much it. Everything in science is so expensive, so any fancy equipment is immediately out of the question. I wish I had more practical experience before I applied to Universities"

Our goal

One of the greatest hurdles in the way of getting that experience is of financial nature; high purchase prices and service costs. Another, is that companies keep their designs proprietary. Hence, being inspired by this, the goal of our project was to create a device that addresses these two areas.

The approach

In our efforts to address hardware price and proprietary licencing, we found out about the Open Source movement in software. Open source refers to making the source code of the software available for anyone to inspect, modify, use parts of for other programs, and distribute freely. Since 1980, technologies started becoming locked behind licences and paywalls (1). Despite savage attacks by corporation giants, such as Microsoft calling Linux cancer, open source software rose in defiance and established their seat on the table (2).

The Open Source principles found their way into hardware as well. The Gaudi labs, for instance, are doing just that; designing and sharing affordable, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) scientific equipment, such as centrifuges, DIY-Nano drops, and PCR machines (3). Therefore, we would build upon this pool of hardware, and we would make available all of our designs, instructions, and software code. Making our device out of parts bought from Amazon would also ensure low costs and unrestricted access.

Combining technology with art

Science hardware has advanced greatly since the 1970s, however, the software accompanying the devices always seems to look like something our grandfather would use. Nowadays, we have so many good examples of companies, such as Google, Tesla, and Apple of how they combine art and style with top quality technologies. For this reason, we wanted to design both the case and the software to be elegant and cool

Getting a jumpstart

Building on top of a previous project would give us a good head start given the limited amount of time we have for an iGEM project. For that reason, we chose to carry on the BrightBiotics project. We reviewed the specifications, and although we kept the basic components, we made a few important changes. For more information: https://2019.igem.org/Team:Sheffield/Hardware, https://2019.igem.org/Team:Sheffield.

Project description

Openlux is an affordable, DIY, open source microplate reader, that can measure bacterial growth at 600 nm.

Master plan

So what is our master plan for Openlux?

Make Openlux affordable and open source.
That would build towards making microplate readers more widely accessible.
That would allow restricted-resource labs, such as schools and University teaching labs, to buy and maintain one.
That would enable students to gain experience faster.

Production

How does this master plan translate into terms of production? “Start with the endgame in mind”. This quote by Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder and first big investor of Facebook, inspired us to first envision what our end-product would look like, before getting in the lab.To that end, we made the following plan:

Endgame: Create an Absorbance-only microplate reader.

Phase I: Develop a minimum specifications product

Carry out the first round of market research.
Redesign BrightBiotics, and focus on 600 nm for bacterial growth.
Develop and validate movement and detection separately.
Combine and validate movement and detection.

Phase II: Develop a minimum viable product

Approach potential customers for prototype feedback.
Design and test a filter wheel.
Design and test a shaking mechanism.

Fluorescence was specifically ruled out, due to its high costs and the time necessary for its development. The goal for Boston was for our prototype to complete Phase I and enter Phase II. An Absorbance-only microplate reader could allow synthetic biology projects to test strains with newly inserted plasmids, for instance, for any growth defects.

Team:Sheffield/Description