Team:Sheffield/Human Practices
Phase I: Market Research
The first goal was to approach current users and buyers of microplate readers, and ask them for what they look for in a microplate reader, share their experiences, tell us features they like, and features they would like to see change. Furthermore, companies selling microplate readers were additionally contacted.
Potential customers
Prof Jeff Green's LabOur first visit was to Prof Jeff Green. He leads a microbiology lab at the University of Sheffield. His postdoc Dr Joe Webb has hands on experience with a microplate reader on a regular basis.
Feedback:
- They primarily do growth curves
- Have replaceable parts to avoid sending back the device for repairs
- Make the device relatively cheap to make it accessible for teaching
- Create a heated lid to avoid condensation
- Create a shaking mechanism for bacterial growth curves
Impact:
- Decided to initially focus on 600 nm, as bacterial growth curves are easiest to validate
Dr Shah's Lab
Dr Karan Shah works in the Department of Human Metabolism at the University of Sheffield. His work focuses on bone and cancer, particularly breast cancer metastasis to bone mechanisms. His work with a microplate reader mostly involves UV absorbance which requires specially made plates; as the standard microplate material is opaque to UV and will block it.
Feedback:
- He primarily works with UV- and fluorescence-based microplate readers
- Keeping a simple UI with few options
- Live results display in the form of graphs and heatmaps are preferred
- To increase sensitivity, our device should take multiple readings per well
Impact:
- Decided against designing for fluorescence due to iGEM time constraints and the complexity involved
- Decided against designing for UV due to iGEM time constraints and the complexity involved
Fab Lab
Oscar Rodriguez works at Fab Lab in Barcelona, Spain, a specialised lab that has to borrow a community lab’s microplate reader for his lab. This research works around bacterial growth and measuring fluoresce.
Feedback:
- He also agreed that 600 nm is a very frequently used wavelength
- Suggested for our machine work with both 96 and 48 well plates
- Add a protocol for cleaning the wells of the microplate reader
- He said that labs with moderate means could benefit from our cheap alternative
Media Lab Prado
Fran Quero was part of the Media Lab Prado in Spain, a DIY biology lab. They use a plate reader to perform GFP expression measurements, optical density measurements on cells, ELISA and ELONAS, and DNA quantification.
Feedback:
- They currently use Madrid iGEM’s plate reader, however, it is difficult to upgrade the reader so a modular system like ours would be preferred.
- Being able to control the equipment by WiFi
- He said to carefully think about our target market as not all research labs need a microplate reader
A-level Computer Scientists
The students we spoke to are currently in their last year of highschool studying Computer Science. As part of their qualification, they have to understand and write different languages of code, including C, HTML, and Javascript which our software uses.
Feedback:
- Our software code was well-commented to be easily understood and manipulated.
Current Market Products
Berthold
Jevon Harrison is the regional sales manager for Berthold, a company that designs and sells scientific equipment for use in the lab, including microplate readers.
Their remarks via email:
- Berthold’s simplest microplate reader: absorbance only, 4 wavelength filters, at £4,000
- Their software also is open source
Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Science Solutions
Linda Salm is the Account Manager for Life Sciences Solutions as part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, a biotechnology product development company.
Their remarks:
- Their ‘Multiskan FC’ absorbance-only microplate reader is the most similar device they sell in comparison to OPENLUX, costing over £4000
- This microplate reader works with 96-well plates
- Works within the 340-880 nm wavelength using filters.
- This microplate reader has shaking but no other features
Impact:
- These gave us an idea of what the microplate readers in the market are like
Phase II: Prototype Feedback
Next, we wanted to take our prototype to potential buyers and users. Our target market would be any limited-resources labs (e.g. school labs, University teaching labs) or labs that want Openlux for the ability to self-service and tweak both hardware and software.
Potential Customers
Prof Green's LabOnce we had a prototype, we went back to Prof Green and Dr Webb. In this meeting, Dr Sheikh also joined us to also provide feedback.
Feedback:
- 540 nm also useful for people doing bacterial growth curves in defined media
- How are results displayed after pressing “download data”?
- Are external vibrational forces accounted for? (a door being shut violently)
- Can our software work with different sizes of well plates?
- Is the reading fast enough for enzymatic experiments?
- Dr Sheikh would prefer a DIY open source plate reader as companies frequently phase out their old models; forcing people into buying new ones
- When asked, they told us that a couple of good experiments for teaching labs could be : - Screening bacterial mutants
- Catalyst screens for reaction with a colour change
Impact:
- Joe suggested that we add a stopper to the microplate platform to keep the plate locked in place
- Based on their feedback, we will be comparing the doubling time derived from our growth curve with that of a professional microplate reader
Prof Foster's Lab
We had a Skype call with Mina Mohaghegh from Prof Foster's Lab. Mina freqently uses their microplate reader for baterial growth curves.
Feedback:
- 15” before each measurement, 10” shake + 5” stand still
- She uses microplate reader for growth curves, and as she works with Pseudomonas fluorescens, she is ok with the temperature being at <25 C°
- Evaporation is an issue. Since she uses all the outermost layer wells to fill up with media, she misses on about 36 wells, which is a lot considering she needs to screen many different strains.
- In order for her to trust our machine, she would need to see: - An industrial grade looking machine
- The user interface should be easy to use and understand
- Data comparison with professional microplate readers
Prof Hajizadeh's Lab
Prof Hajizadeh and Dr Danjavi are plasma medicine researchers in the Department of Molecular Atomic Physics, Islamic Azad University, Iran.
Feedback:
- They wanted a setting in the user interface of the software that allows them to modify the time spent reading each well
Impact:
- They made us realize that we need to decide on specific wavelength filters that we would include with our machine
- As they asked specific cost breakdown questions, we decided that we will make a full cost breakdown for Boston.
MBB Seminar
We presented our project to the academics of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (MBB) at our university. These included PI’s as well as the Head of Department who are all potential buyers of microplate readers.
Impact:
- They suggested that we move away from making a cheaper alternative to professional microplate readers and, instead, focus on targeting: - Highschools for classes
- Universities for outreach activities
More specifically, Prof Mike Williamson, the Head of Department of MBB, told us that he would prefer spending £4,000 for a microplate reader, professionally made by a company, over a cheaper alternative. This was because he values its guaranteed quality and functionality.
University of Sheffield Open Day
Lab equipment activities
Dimitrios Michailidis, our supervisor, worked for the Open Day of the MBB department, and he had a chance to experience first hand the activities offered there to high school students. Among the activities, there were benches with three devices; a spectrophotometer (picture above, left), a PCR machine (picture above, right), and a Nanodrop (not shown). Although the first two had a fun activity linked to them, the students did not get to interact with these devices at all.
Microbiology activities
There were two microbiology activities in the lab; one was showing how different bacterial species look on a plate, and the other presented liquid bacterial cultures and ways of plating bacteria on agar plates.OPENLUX as an activity
OPENLUX can be used to both showcase microbiology and a lab device. Students could load the wells with different density liquids (resembling bacterial cultures), and place the plate on the holder. They would then interact with the touch screen of the adjacent, to select the wells they want and click Start.OPENLUX Learning Kit
Talking to the MBB PIs and Head of Department, we realised that selling OPENLUX from the angle of a cheaper alternative to company microplate readers, would not be the best approach. Instead, we chose to focus on targeting high school students by providing them with a multidisciplinary learning kit.
For High School Classes
Build.
Students, with the help of their teachers, can view our designs and build parts of OPENLUX or attempt to build all of it, depending on the number of student groups involved. Alternatively, the designs can be used to teach the basics of 3D design and serve as exercises to be replicated. If the schools lack laser cutters for manufacturing the parts, they can either collaborate with a local university or get a deal with a company to laser cut it for them. The fees should be low. Students can modify our designs or even make new ones, in essence improving OPENLUX.
Code.
An ESP32 microcontroller was programmed to be able to control the movement of the machine (stepper motors) and display the readings on a graphical user interface. Students can study the code, learn from it, and make their own modifications.
Experiment.
-monitor the growth of baker’s yeast or E. coli (Experiment 1&2, 600 nm)
-check how fertile your soil is (Experiment 4, left picture below)
-see how inhibitors can stop mitochondria from producing energy (Experiment 3, 600 nm, right picture below)
Experiments Manual
Multidisciplinary project
A bigger scale project can be designed where students with an interest in building the device, coding it, and running experiments with it, can all come together to try and reconstruct the project.
For University Outreach
OPENLUX could be used as an outreach activity by universities when engaging with high school students as described above.
Experiments Manual