Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MuFLOART (Microbiological fluorescence observatory for antibiotic resistance tracking)
Berichtszeitraum: 2018-10-01 bis 2020-03-31
The purpose of our project was to make a 3-wavelength fluorescence spectrophotometer that incubates the sample and provides data, typically in the form of gene expression patterns.
Our design principles make our device reliable and extremely low maintenance, it is low in power use with a small, mobile footprint. It can even reduce downtime and lost data in the event of sudden power loss in the lab; where most commercial devices lose their data, our device stores it, eliminating some of the risks inherent to lab work.
However, the device's biggest feature is the flexibility you get from a low-footprint device. Unlike most lab spectrophotometers, you can put it in a bag and carry it on a bike, you could even run it off solar power in a field. 12 of our devices could fit into the space of a typical commercial plate reader.
Importantly, data quality does not suffer because of its size. Algorithms are used to de-noise data, the device performs repeat readings as technical replicates and this ensures data quality is equivalent to, if not better than, currently available commercial devices.
While we are still working towards achieving a stable spinout a good deal of significant progress has been made on all core planned aspects of the project 1. the light engine and a patent, 2. digital / software technology and algorithms, 3. device production costs., 4. lightweight / small footprint final construction.