Benchtop

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, continues to be one of the most widely used model organisms in biomedical research. Though chosen for its ease of husbandry, maintaining large numbers of stocks of fruit flies, as done by many laboratories, is labour-intensive.

Today, biologists spend too much time pipetting by hand. We think biologists should have robots to do pipetting for them. People doing science should be free of tedious benchwork and repetitive stress injuries.

Syringe pumps are a necessary piece of laboratory equipment that are used for fluid delivery in behavioral neuroscience laboratories. Many experiments provide rodents and primates with fluid rewards such as juice, water, or liquid sucrose.

An open-source 3-D printable laboratory sample rotator mixer is developed here in two variants that allow users to opt for the level of functionality, cost saving and associated complexity needed in their laboratories.

The Craniobot is a cranial microsurgery platform that combines automated skull surface profiling with a computer numerical controlled (CNC) milling machine to perform a variety of cranial microsurgical procedures in mice.

LabMaker is a maker and assembly service for OPEN SCIENCE instruments. OPEN SCIENCE initiatives provide part lists or “Bill Of Materials” (BOM) for openly available scientific instruments. LabMaker bridges the gap between the BOM and the ready-to-use instrument for those not wanting to build by themselves.

An open-source, motorized, and modular microscope built using LEGO bricks, Arduino, Raspberry Pi and 3D printing. The microscope uses a Raspberry Pi mini-computer with an 8MP camera to capture images and videos.

OpenFuge describes all the materials and gives step by step instructions to the assembly of a centrifuge that is able to deliver 6000 G’s of force and to rotate at 9000 RPM, while being able to hold 4 eppendorf tubes.

GogoFuge is a good example of the power of opensource designs. IT was based on the idea of the DremelFuge and altered to be a tabletop centrifuge with vortex capability. It was created by Keegan Cooke

The 5 dollar PCR machine is a project from David Ng. he created a very interesting design for the PCR machine. Instead of using eppendorfs, he is using teflon tubes and three different heating elements, which allows for cheaper (he has a working PCR machine for 5 dollars!