I’ve spent 1-2 years designing everything, even bought many parts to start building and written some code. But I realize that a project like this can’t be successful without a community.
I’ll be brief here: such a device would help bring many of the coming medical advances to the masses, even to people that can’t afford them, as well as make research cheaper for non-corporate-backed groups.
If you think this is important, I could share what’s been done and we could discuss ideas, get organized, find people with skills that would like to help, etc.
These days I’ve been working on typing down what I have noted in paper or in my mind, in order to share it. I did create and publish this tool for the project, which at least does prove that I’m onto something.
I intend to work towards a self-sustaining DNA/protein making machine, which would lower research material costs to basically zero. But my initial goal is something simple, like separating and identifying the different proteins in a commercial enzyme mixture.
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I’ve bought a good 3D printer and experimented with it. Right now I’m pretty sure it can be done, although not at a terribly high resolution.
Okay, enzyme separation huh… I can imagine separating pure enzymes from something like a cheap non-laboratory mixture (e.g. digestive enzymes) or a used up reaction mixture.
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Oh, no, it won’t use capillary forces in the current design. Rather, it will actively pump fluids through the channels, so they only need to be thin enough to allow laminar flow and force any bubbles through.
Environmental enzyme detection, huh? I like that use case, seems relatively simple yet useful to start with!