One of the most used instruments in a microbiology laboratory is the microbiological incubator, it is used for bacteria growth, incubation of cells and tempered storage. This project aims to create a incubator that can be fabricated in a typical makerspace environment at a low cost while achieving the same performance as commercial units. The incubator features a parametric CAD design to allow the users to modify it depending on their volume requirements. Finally, the proposed incubator has two power options: mains-powered mode and battery powered mode for portable instrumentation in remote environments.
The team is comprised of the 5 members who are currently involved in WaterASCope- a not-for-profit Cambridge startup which aims to detect bacteria in water in less than 2 hours using a low-cost, portable kit. The skill set of the team is suitable for the development of the project and the individual roles are described below.
Sammy Mahdi: Sensors, heater and control electronics
Richard Bowman: Parametric OpenSCAD design of incubator
Alex Patto: Fabrication and characterisation of incubator
Tianheng Zhao: Software and device interface
Nalin Pate: Component sourcing and usability testing