Team:Uppsala/HP/Gold
The Microfluidics Manual
The Manual
As a part of Human Practices we decided to develop a manual for manufacturing a microfluidic chip for heat shock transformation. Hopefully this manual can make microfluidic chips easier and more available for other iGEM teams and other small labs. The manual covers the full manufacturing process for a microfluidic chip based on a 3D- printed mold. It includes all required materials, step-by-step protocols for the making of the chip and also a protocol for cell transformation on the chip. To make an example this manual is made specifically for heat shock transformation, but the design of the chip can be altered to fit any other purpose.
Improving the Manual
When we wrote the manual we wanted it to fit the needs of smaller laboratories that might lack all the necessary equipment and prior knowledge. We therefore reached out to the organisation Stockholm Makerspace. After a short discussion concerning intellegent property and the writing of a contract, our files containing the design of the chip, as well as the manual while it was under progress we're sent to them. The collaboration with Makerspace gave us important feedback and lead to an overall improvement of the manual. The manual was adjusted to make sure that that the content was comprehensible and accessible for the people that read it. The Biohackers at Makerspace are going to test our manual in practice in the near future and we look forward to see the results from our manual and manufacturing method being used.
