Team:Uppsala/Integrated Practices
Integrated Practices
Our first designs of the microfluidic chip were quite different from the final design. Although we made several different moulds for the chips the manufacturing process of the manufacturing steps after using the mould remained the same throughout the project. We found that the process worked well and therefore developed a manual with the hope of facilitating the making of microfluidic chips for other iGEM teams as well as for other low budget laboratories.
In order to make our manufacturing method more comprehensible for the final users, we contacted the Stockholm based biohacker community Makerspace about our microfluidic chips. We sent them files containing our CAD designs as well as a manual on how to manufacture their own chips. The manual as well as our other guides on how to make the chips was then rewritten into a final version based on the feedback from the biohackers. As our manufacturing method makes microfluidic chips more accessible, they will mainly assist smaller labs with lower budget. Biohackers therefore felt like the obvious choice to ask for feedback. We hope that the feedback provided have made our guides easier to understand and our chips, in turn, even more accessible.
