Apply here for GOSH’s 2022 Collaborative Development Program! (Round 1)

[Oluwamuyiwa]

1. Name of applicant(s):
   Olumuyiwa Omole

2. Email Address:
   omole.olumuyiwa@gmail.com, lifecenta.ng@gmail.com

3. What track are you applying to?
   New Project Track (complete questions 4-9)

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences:
   Lifecenta Community Educational project is dedicated to creating and 3D Printing modular learning materials for learners (teens and kids) in rural communities. The project also uses an open-source filament extruder to recycle plastic materials into 3D Filaments.

5. Please describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them:
   • To create learning materials for rural learners at minimal cost
   • To make learning fun and easy
   • To intimate learners on the beauty of STEM
   • To teach learners about the beauty of 3D Printing
   • To introduce the rural learners to CAD (Computer-Aided-Design)
   • To educate the rural learners about recycling and environmental awareness

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project:
   We currently have five volunteers for the following activities:
   • CAD/Robotics Design
   • 3D Printing Training/Operation
   • Recycling
   • Children/Teenagers Engagement

We are presently collaborating with DAMBros Robotics (Italy) to design and create Educational Robots, while 3DHubs (Netherlands/International) has been helping with the provision of learning resources for 3D Printing. We are interested in exploring open-source platforms like Github and Thingiverse for accessing many learning-aid designs.

7. Describe how your organization will create and manage collaboration with others:
   We’ll manage funds through a frequent update on GOSH Community Forum with pictures, reports, and daily expenses. We want to make sure every member and mentor of the GOSH Community has an idea of how we are reaching out to rural learners with advanced/disruptive technologies.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation, or other identification? If so, how?
   Yes! We want to introduce the most marginalized Nigerian communities to the best technologies and help them create indigenous systems and solutions for internal and sustainable development. We are majorly focused on teenagers and kids in rural, underserved, and unreached communities. We will also create a special focus for girls interested in STEM.

9. What resources/infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?
   • We have networks with experienced CAD experts
   • We have a total of 5 functional laptops and internet access for online learning
   • We have access to a series of open-source designs for adding learning subjects like Mathematics, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, etc.
   • We have 20 Copies of 3DHubs’ resource material available for training (It will be simplified)
   • We have some robotic gadgets like 3D Pen, Robotic Grippers, etc. donated by DAMBros Robotics

What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. Please list what you are going to spend it on and how.

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
Supplies	3D Printer	$1000.00	It is needed as the main device for the production of the learning-aid materials and objects
	Materials for Filament Extruder fabrication	$800.00	It is needed for recycling plastic wastes in rural communities as filaments.

11. How will you share the outcomes your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)
    Each step of the project will be documented on the GOSH Community with photos and videos. The manual for each design process will also be provided in PDF formats (with necessary pictorial representations).

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?
    The project is focused on rural kids with no gender bias because every rural participants will be involved equally. We are taking a design procedure many prospective urban participants would pay for and offering it to their rural counterparts at NO COST!

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?
    NONE!

[julianstirling]

@Rosmo @Oluwamuyiwa

Sorry. We only said the first 9 questions needed to be answered but this was another mistake on our part. We do need the first 13 questions answered. Sorry for any inconvenience.

[Oluwamuyiwa]

It’s been edited. Thanks!

[Tanguy]

1. Name of applicant(s)
Tanguy Van Regemorter
2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)
tanguy.vr@manetco.be
3. What track are you applying to? (select one):

• Established Project Track (complete questions 4-18)

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences
We are developing a modular test bench for microfluidic applications to characterize microfluidic devices and 3D printed static mixers.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them
Microfluidic and small scale continuous production is an opportunity to have a more efficient production. The mixing elements are rather complex to build but thanks to the rapid evolution of 3D printing technologies, the production cost decrease. However, the surrounding equipment like pumps, controler and analytical tools are still very expensive which prevent the development of the technology. Many researchers overcome these difficulties by buidling their own equipment thanks to open-source hardware but this require a lot of time and multidisciplinary high skills.
The goal of the project is to start from a modular test bench we developed for specific projects. The bench is composed of 2 peristaltic pumps controlled with arduino nano, a camera and a light source. We also created an interface based on Node-Red.
The idea is to start from this set-up as a starting point, robustize it with the support of the GOSH community and make it open-source with the proper documentation. It would also be interesting to discuss about the business model.

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?
There will be 2 or 3 persons depending on the compentences required and it is open to anyone interested to contribute.

7. Describe how your oranganisa will create and manage collaboration with others.
We will use the GOSH forum to present the evolution of the project and we will also create a slack to discuss about the project with anyone interested to participate in the project.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?
No

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?
I create my own company (www.manetco.be) three years ago and we have running projects to design parts and equipment for research labs and industrial R&D department. Thanks to the running project, we created a workshop with 3D printers, electronic, machining and a small lab for the tests.

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.
The funds will be used to create 3 prototypes which will be sent to academic labs for tests and validation of the working principle

Material to create the 2 prototypes (stepper motors and controler, pump head, frame, camera and light source) : 2 000 $

Support from subcontractors with expertise in electronic, programming and documentation : 2 600 $

11. How will you share the outcomes your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)
The project will be shared with videos, photos and the documentation will be added and shared on Gitlab

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?
Thanks to the open-source community, we hope to create affordable lab equipment in order to broaden the access and simplify the access to STEM. We believe that everybody love science but they haven’t figure it out yet

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?
No

For applicants to the Established Project Track, in addition to the questions above, answer the questions below to briefly describe your project design and implementation plan.

14. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.
The goal is to create prototype which could be used by researchers to see how it could be improved. A first version of the proto already exist (I can post a picture if needed) but it needs to be robustized to be sent to researchers and the software has to be improved. The goal is also to provide the prototypes to the researchers so they can test it on their experiments.

15. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award? This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.
One part of the budget will be used to buy the material for the new prototypes. The subcontractor budgets will be used to build them and perform some improvment. A student will also be involved in the project.

16. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?
Production of the two prototypes and first feedback from users. We would also like to receive the feedback from the open-source community.

17. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps?
Improve the set-up and/or develop complementary equipments depending on the interest from the users

18. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel, supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses (equipment).
To be completed soon

[audevuilli]

1. Name of applicant(s), Name of organisation(s)
Aude Vuilliomenet, Duncan Wilson (Connected Environments Lab, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London)
Ella Browning (UCL Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research (CBER), Bat Conservation Trust)

2. Email address
aude.vuilliomenet.18@ucl.ac.uk

3. Application Track
New Project Track (complete questions 1-13)

4. Project Description (max. 2 sentences)
The project “Shazam for Bats” was a proprietary smart bat monitor that was developed in 2017 by Intel and UCL. It used an Intel Edison with a Dodotronic 192K microphone to record and process the soundscape using a CNN detection algorithm to count bat calls which were uploaded in real-time to a cloud database.

5. Project Goals & Project Steps
The project aims to improve the technical capability of the first prototype of “Shazam for Bats” as well as establish it as an open-source hardware device. More specifically, the project will follow the below-described steps in order to achieve its goals:

1. Redesign the bat monitor with open science hardware components (RaspberryPi).
2. Implement an AudioMoth USB to provide a lower cost device to capture the soundscape (in addition to the Dodotronic microphone).
3. Extend data transmission capability to LoRa.
4. Document the hardware components and firmware, draft the operation manual.
5. Improve the CNN detection algorithm so that it not only identifies bat calls but also bird species. Test the accuracy of the deep learning algorithm when deployed on the device.

6. People
It is expected that 5 to 6 people will contribute to the project.

• Project Lead: Aude Vuilliomenet (PhD Student working on hardware design, algorithm, documentation)
• Engineering: Duncan Wilson, Steven Gray + 1 MSc student from MSc Connected Environment (hardware, enclosure design, connectivity, datastore, algorithm development and documentation)
• Field Testing & Data Sharing: Ella Browning (Bat Conservation Trust - New data will be provided by Ella via BCT to improve the Bat detection algorithm.)
• Advisors: Duncan Wilson (Professor of Connected Environments, Bartlett), Kate Jones (Professor of Ecology, Centre for Biodiversity and Environmental Research), Oisin Mac Aodha (Edinburgh University detection algorithms)

7. Organisation & Collaboration
Funds will be managed through the Connected Environments Lab at CASA UCL. The project steps will be documented and blog posts of the different phases will be published on the blog of the CE Lab as well as shared via social media. All documents (hardware design, bill of materials, algorithms) will be published on GitHub.

8. Underrepresented Background
The people involved in this project form a group that represents gender equally and covers different geographic regions.

9. Current Infrastructure & Resources
The project is supported by and has access to the following:

1. Maker spaces - within the CE Lab as well as The Bartlett faculty.
2. WiFi and LoRa Network coverage within the QEOP - a testbed for the current prototype.

10. Budget

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Costs	Comments
Materials	Hardware (RPi, Audiomoth, LoRa Module), Enclosures (waterproof filaments for 3D printer), Power Sources (Test with solar panel, battery pack)	$1000	Materials needed to develop the version 2
Subcontract	Support from experts in electronics, hardware design	$600	Get advice to make v2 as cheap and reproducible as possible. Costs vs. Benefits of developing a PCB.
Other	Shipping Costs, Documentation, Videos Filming	$400

11. Project Outcomes & Documentation
The development of the V2 will require changes in the design of the hardware and integration of a second classification algorithm to identify birds (using the open-source BirdNet algorithm). The project will release the documentation on GitHub. Examples of documentation files are hardware design and schematic, bills of materials, setup-guide, configuration file, model training and outputs.

12. Addressing Diversity & Inclusion (see. GOSH’s Values)
This project contributes to open access to environmental monitoring and automated data processing. Specific attention will be on developing a low-cost prototype that is easy to replicate and can be used by non-technical communities. It engages with the GOSH’s values in the following way:

1. Will automate the processing and analysis of bats and birds acoustic recording, thus benefiting ecologists and/or environmental agencies.
2. Will act as a case study for open-sourcing hardware and software in the academic context. It aims to create video and short blog posts of the steps and processes to create OSH.
3. Will democratise environmental monitoring tools and allow better investigation into how urban development and landscape management influence the ecological biodiversity of studied sites.

13. Conflicts of Interest
None!

[byront]

1. Name of applicant(s)

Byron Tarabata, Ramiro Taco, Malena Losa, Alessandro Bedoya, Jorge Ortega.

2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact):
btarabatat@usfq.edu.ec

3. What track are you applying to?:

New Project Track

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences:

Design an ASIC (Integrated Circuit) system using full EDA open-source tools for the realization of bioelectronic systems. In the first stage, the analog part of the circuit (OTA, Comparators, etc. ) necessary for the acquisition and processing of the signal prior to its digitization will be designed. Verification will be done through post-layout simulation, to finally fabricate and test the chip along with the entire system

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them:

Although today there are many systems based on open hardware at some point in the design it requires additional components (Sensors, analog or digital integrated circuits, LM741, 555 for example) manufactured by third parties. Most of this additional hardware during its design and manufacturing process was subject to NDA by the foundry (TSMC, IBM, Samsung) and payment of licenses for the use of EDA software necessary for its design and manufacture. This results in black boxes impossible to study or modify by the end-user.

The project aims to establish a microelectronic design flow (Integrated Circuits) using open source tools, initially for biomedical applications but can be extended to other areas that require designing their own ASICs. To meet this objective, the following objectives are established:

PHASE 1:

• Investigate free tools for microelectronic design
• implement a line of microelectronic design for prototyping of specific purpose integrated circuits.
• Design the analog component for a pulse oximeter.
• Verification of operation through simulation.

PHASE 2:

• Chip manufacturing (TapeOut)
• chip testing
• Design the full system integrating the ASIC with the microcontroller in a single PCB.
• Socialization of the project

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

Now we are 3 full-time professors with experience in ASIC design, and Biomedical Biomechanics and Bioelectronics from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ

Two electronic engineering students (IEEE-USFQ )

7. Describe how your organism will create and manage collaboration with others.

We will manage founds by Micro and nanoelectronic Institute IMNE ((https://www.usfq.edu.ec/es/institutos-de-investigacion/instituto-de-micro-y-nanoelectronica-imne)) from USFQ and IEEE-USFQ and IEE-CAS society.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation, or other identification? If so, how?

Yes, our team has two students awarded scholarships by USFQ for socioeconomic class situations.

9. What resources/infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

• USFQ Electronic laboratory
• USFQ Microelectronics VLSI laboratory

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
Training	Zero to ASIC Course	650	Necessary to learn the VLSI design flow with Open-source tools
Subcontract	IT technician	500	The project needs some dedication to establish the right work of the EDA software
materials	FPGA open source	200	Required to prototype Digital electronics before being implemented in silicon.
materials	LAPTOP	650	Hardware where the EDA software will be implemented

11. How will you share the outcomes of your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

• We will create a wiki and GitHub of the project where we will upload continuously the results of the project.
• Microelectronics summer schools open from Ecuadorian students
• Microelectronic design workshop in collaboration with the IEEE-USFQ
• IEEE-USFQ social networks

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

The semiconductor industry is scaled or nil in developing countries mainly because of the high license prices for the use of EDA software and the NDA (Non-Disclosure-Agreements) that make it impossible for some universities, research centers, or small companies to access these tools. Which perpetuates extractivist development models established since the colony, which make difficult the scientific and technological development of the region.

This project is the first step for the development of the semiconductor industry in the region. It also promotes the development of products with high added value, contributing to the diversification of the productive matrix and the technological sovereignty of the region.

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

None.

[sebastian]

Many thanks for providing this opportunity!

1. Name of applicant

Apertus - Association supporting open and free audiovisual media and technology / Verein zur Förderung offener und freier audiovisueller Medien und Technologie

We are a non profit association.

2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)

team [at] apertus [dot] org

3. What track are you applying to? (select one):

Established Project Track (complete questions 4-18)

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences

AXIOM is an open hardware (OSHWA certified: AT000001) and free software modular high end imaging platform that allows high performance image acquisition, image analysis and recording for cinematography, scientific imaging, computational photography, industrial vision, etc… The electronics are finished and in production - in the scope of this project we want to elevate the aluminum camera enclosure from prototype to production stage.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them

Background

AXIOM is a community project and was born by users fed up with proprietary black box solutions. That community formed to create radically different philosophy tools that are accessible and adaptable. Applications range from professional film production to research and development purposes as well as industrial vision and computational photography - projects that require high resolution, high performance imaging and image analysis/processing. See further case studies: AXIOM Beta/Case Studies - apertus wiki

This particular project

AXIOM Beta Compact Enclosure

Concept: https://www.apertus.org/sites/default/files/AXIOM%20Beta%20CP%20Enclosure_0.png

Actual prototype:

We have a second generation prototype of the AXIOM Beta Compact camera enclosure ready (see prototype here: https://www.apertus.org/axiom-team-talk-15-1-axiom-beta-compact-enclosure-cnc-milled-metal-prototype-article) and want to now design the last remaining components and apply the remaining finishing touches and optimizations to the existing ones with the help of an experienced precision mechanical engineer to prepare for and to start a small volume production of the enclosure and release all files and documentation. We have a manufacturing partner already at hand that also built the two prototype generations. The enclosures produced in the small volume production run will be handed out to early adopters and community members to collect feedback and derive potential improvements. After they have received the enclosures we want to learn what users were able to do with their AXIOM Betas.Collected feedback will be evaluated to improve the enclosure design or add new components/accessories to it.

DIY Injection Molding

We also want to improve a DIY manufacturing approach evolving around making injection molding more accessible to maker communities with high temperature resin 3d printed cast molds. Normally injection molding is only viable for industrial high volume productions because the casting molds are very expensive to produce. By using an SLA 3D printer and a high temperature resin we were experimenting with producing molds for injection molding for a fraction of the price already.

Image:
https://www.apertus.org/sites/default/files/Injection_Moulding_02-small.jpg

We already prototyped this and shared the progress in a previous AXIOM Team Talk episode: https://www.apertus.org/axiom-team-talk-14-3-injection-moulding-axiom-remote-socials-metal-smelting-article where we showed how we injection molded a custom heat sink with a special heat-conducting graphite-compound-plastic but in the end had to use a CNC milled aluminum cast mold because the 3D printed one could not withstand the full pressure of the injection mold process (and this particular material required even more injection force than softer plastics). Now we want to return to improving the strength/stability of the 3D printed mold approach.

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

2-3 (Phase 1)

4-6 (Phase 2)

7. Describe how your oranganisa will create and manage collaboration with others.

We run a number of communication platforms and channels to encourage collaboration and contribution but also to update community members and contributors on recent progress, next steps and lessons learned and provide a platform for individual meetings and chats as well.

For example we run weekly IRC team meetings on our public channel where everyone is asked to share progress and next steps. Everyone can participate and ask questions. We also use phabricator for task and issue management and communication related to these topics. We use several mailing lists (general team, community and topic related sublists) and social media platforms (mastodon, twitter, etc.).

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?

No, but we generally do not discriminate based on any of the above mentioned terms in our community.

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

We use:

1. wiki to share and edit technical documentation collaboratively: https://wiki.apertus.org/

2. task/issue management system to organize tasks and projects: https://lab.apertus.org/

3. onshape.com for collaborative CAD editing and sharing of CAD models/drawings

4. github as code repository: https://github.com/orgs/apertus-open-source-cinema (some developers also use it for issue tracking and releases) and also to store/share hardware design files (also 3d models) and drawings/CAD models of mechanical parts

5. a custom developed browser based CAD component viewer to make looking at parts more enjoyable: AXIOM 3D Viewer (sources: https://github.com/apertus-open-source-cinema/cad-3d-viewer)

6. IRC for weekly team meetings and live chat: https://www.apertus.org/irc-chat

7. our main website where we share projects news posts and development updates https://www.apertus.org/

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

Phase 1:
Our team members will design the last remaining mechanical parts (eg. connector side plate) and have everything reviewed by an experienced precision engineer professional we will hire. Once all the drawings and manufacturing instructions are approved we will send off the manufacturing order to our chinese CNC manufacturing partner. Production will typically take 5-6 weeks, then we will receive parts back and evaluate their quality and test-assemble a few camera enclosures.

In parallel we will pursue the DIY injection molding tasks and create new fixtures for allowing the 3D printed mold shapes to withstand higher pressure, we can do this entire process inhouse and do not require new equipment, just new high temperature SLA resin.

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
personnel	hire experienced precision engineer for CAD drawing review & finishing touches	$ 800	to prepare all designs for manufacturing
subcontracts	mechanical production (materials, small volume CNC milling, anodizing and sandblasting)	$ 3,500	to manufacture the mechanical components
supplies	high temperature SLA Resin, raw material and parts for the mold shell	$ 300	to 3D print injection molds and prepare injection mold process
total		$ 4,600

11. How will you share the outcomes of your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

We will document all enclosure parts (with photos & drawings) and the assembly process/how-to on our wiki.

We will do a new AXIOM Team Talk video episode about the progress of the enclosure, the GOSH grant and the changes/additions (see previous episodes here: AXIOM Team Talk Episodes - apertus wiki)

In AXIOM Team Talk episode 15.1 we covered the first enclosure prototype: AXIOM Team Talk Volume 15.1 - YouTube

The new team talk episode will also be released in an accompanying news post on https://www.apertus.org/ also featuring more photos and explanations.

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

We seek to democratize film-making and the technology for film-makers as well as science with open hardware tools and the modular approach to extend and adapt the AXIOM for any digital image acquisition and image processing approach. We believe we enable many people to work in these fields and on such projects that way - finding new ways to approach creative expression and scientific applications/challenges.

The AXIOM Beta enclosure we want to push from prototype to small batch production in this particular project adds an extremely important protection layer around the electronics which allows the AXIOM to become a field device instead of a lab equipment. This opens up the usage in many new applications and projects.

We are constantly encouraging female and non binary developers/students from all social backgrounds to do remote internships no matter where they are located in our organization. Fruitful collaborations have already happened that way participating in Google Summer of Code and independent remote internships. We regularly do outreach related activities in this regard as well (eg. student unions, local or topic related online communities). In general we are very interested in how we can encourage and ensure more diversity in our community and participated and ran several workgroups and events in this regard (e.g. at the Google Summer of Code mentor summit or surrounding events). We tour Maker Faires or maker oriented events in central Europe where we particularly also offer hands-on-workshops to get females and non binary people interested in soldering SMT electronics.

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

no.

14. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.

For the AXIOM Beta Compact enclosure finishing touches and manufacturing no new technologies or tools need to be developed.

For the DIY injection molding method we are pioneering a new way how makers and small businesses can produce plastic and plastic compound parts in low volumes at low cost. Something that was not possible before and required high cost tooling and considerable large volume productions for injection molding to become economically viable for makers and small businesses.

We will publish lessons learned, best practice guides and progress reports about the method and make them publicly available, no new software tools are required.

15. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award? This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.

Core team members will cover finishing the CAD designs of the missing mechanical components in the first of three months phase 1 length. The reporting, creating and releasing of documentation and promotion material will be done in the last of the 3 month phase 1 grant period and will also be covered by the core team in their volunteering time. The review of the CAD drawings and models will be done by a hired professional precision engineer who estimated the required work to be in the range of 10h and charges 80$/h. This will happen right at the beginning for the finished CAD designs and after the first month when the last parts are done at the latest to leave enough time for manufacturing.

The cost estimate for the manufacturing subcontracting is based on the experience and cost of previous orders at that particular company for prototypes we had manufactured there (if the new order price turns out to be higher we will cover the difference with our own funds). This manufacturing run typically takes 3-4 weeks until we have the finished parts in hand.

Pushing the DIY injection mold method and creating documentation and sharing it will also be covered by core team members in their volunteering time and the required expenses here are only for material and supplies. This will probably take 2 to 3 intensive work sessions of one day each and can happen in parallel to any of the before-mentioned tasks/work.

16. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?

Milestone 1: enclosure CAD designs finalized and reviewed (ready for production).

Milestone 2: Enclosure component production complete and component shipped/received

Milestone 3: DIY injection mold process tested, reviewed, documented and shared

17. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps?

We will improve the designs of the Compact enclosure part designs based on the collected early adopter feedback (phase 1). Phase 1 therefore significantly allows us to grow our community and bring new collaborators and contributors into the project.

Next we want to design an enclosure for the AXIOM Recorder and a few more accessories to mount both devices together. The AXIOM Recorder enables recording of uncompressed 4K raw footage to solid state media and integrates a Linux embedded device and M.2 PCIe SSD. Ergonomics play a key role here with the enclosure and mount points as well as weight distribution.Previous ergonomics workgroup meetings have laid a foundation for the work to be conducted now: https://www.apertus.org/node/484 .

Image: https://www.apertus.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/ergonomics-workshop-nov2017-8.jpg

Image: https://www.apertus.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/ergonomics-workshop-nov2017-6.jpg

Here are previous concepts for the AXIOM Recorder and the combination with the AXIOM Beta, the hardware for the AXIOM Recorder is much more concrete now and slightly smaller than originally anticipated so a slightly smaller/lighter recorder enclosure is possible, cooling and ventilation need to be considered and addresses though in Phase 2.

Image: https://www.apertus.org/sites/default/files/image2_0.jpg

Phase 2 would allow us to undertake the CAD design, create 3D printed prototypes and once validated start a small volume production to distribute the AXIOM Recorder and accessories to community and early adopters. Again this is a major driving factor for the project as handing out hardware invites, encourages and enables new people to contribute as they now have hardware to do so.

In addition we also want to finished the electronics, software and enclosure for the AXIOM Remote (AXIOM Remote - apertus wiki): An open hardware human interface device to control the AXIOM and also potentially many other USB connected devices (everything is designed to be as compatible and generic as possible). Current AXIOM Remote enclosure concept is shown in the following image and we already developed 2 generations of electronics hardware that go into the AXIOM Remote. We have written software for GUIs and button/knob interaction and external interfaces and also collaborated with international students in Google Summer of Code on this software development in and around the AXIOM Remote.

Image: https://www.apertus.org/sites/default/files/images/image4.jpg

Here is an interactive web-based 3D representation of the AXIOM Remote:
https://apertus-open-source-cinema.github.io/AXIOM-Remote/
The same firmware running on the actual embedded device is also driving the LCD and button interactions and GUI menus in this online simulator.

In phase 2 we want to finish the CAD designs of the aluminum CNC milled 2 part enclosure assembly, review the CAD drawings and designs and manufacture a small volume batch. The semi transparent button caps used in the above concept would be envisioned to be made from silicon rubber through the DIY injection mold process we want to pioneer in phase 1. In phase 2 we also want to finish the electronics hardware design adaptions to fit the enclosure. Again we want to produce a small batch of AXIOM Remote hardware and enclosure mechanical parts and distribute them to early adopters and community to collaboratively work on the firmware/software and incorporate improvements iteratively. This again grows our community and enables new developments and contributors.

18. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel, supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses (equipment).

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
personnel	hire experienced precision engineer for CAD drawing review & finishing touches	$ 800	to prepare all designs for manufacturing
subcontracts	mechanical production (materials, small volume CNC milling, anodizing and sandblasting)	$ 3,500	to manufacture the mechanical components
supplies	high temperature SLA Resin, raw material and parts for the mold shell	$ 300	to 3D print injection molds and prepare injection mold process
total		$ 4,600

[naikymen]

Application

1. Name of applicant(s)

   • Nicolás Méndez (IFIBYNE-UBA, CABA, Argentina).
   • Vanesa Mercau (IFIBYNE-UBA, CABA, Argentina).
   • Gastón Corthey (TECSCI S.A.S. and UNSAM, Buenos Aires, Argentina).
   • Martin Gambarotta (TECSCI S.A.S., Buenos Aires, Argentina).

2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)

   • nmendez.ar@gmail.com
   • vane.mercau@gmail.com
   • gcorthey@unsam.edu.ar
   • magambarotta@tecsci.com.ar

3. What track are you applying to? (select one):

   • Our project is more relevant to the “New Project Track”, to improve an existing prototype and output an MVP.

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences

   • The project is about making a liquid handling robot, suited to automate molecular biology protocols of low to moderate complexity, on a tight budget.
     It is meant to increase reproducibility, enable experiments requiring higher throughput, and automate routine protocols; to make more with our time.
   • We started working on it during 2020, building upon our experience on the miniCNC project at CTA-UFGRS, during the reGOSH 2019 residence.
     We now have a functional prototype in testing. It is published in a github repository, with a few demonstration videos, and uses free licences for hardware and software.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them

   • Our goal is to make a system that is:
     1. well documented,
     2. easy to make, use and hack,
     3. extremely affordable,
     4. and versatile (protocol-wise).
   • To these ends, we will:
     • (1,2) make multimedia documentation covering most aspects of the project,
     • (2,3) continue relying on widely available components, 3D printing, and modularization;
     • (3) use cheaper parts and make use of existing equipment (i.e. the micropipettes),
     • and (4) modularize hardware and software, implement a toolchanging system, and interface with other OScH products (thermocyclers, turbidimeters, etc.).
   • We believe our project will fill a gap in OSH liquid handling robots, by fully complying with OSH definitions. Established projects like OpenTrons OT2 lack critical documentation and guides if one wishes to independently study, build, or modify the hardware. Furthermore, its purchase cost is still prohibitive for all of our region’s laboratories but the elite. We do, however, plan to make our robot compatible with the OpenTrons software and labware modules, and collaborate in the future.

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

   • Five to six people, including us applicants.

7. Describe how your oranganisation will create and manage collaboration with others.

   • Subcontract calls will be public; posted on domain specific forums, employment search platforms, and shared directly with potential collaborators.
   • Meeting notes, subcontract calls, collaboration logs, and expenses will also be publicly available in a GitLab repository.
   • Project progress will be shared on the GOSH forum and social networks.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?

   • The project is developed at and for a country of the “global south”.

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

   • Molecular biology lab at IFIBYNE-UBA (fully equipped and funded).
   • Manufacturing equipment at TECSCI S.A.S. (CNC mills, lathe, laser cutting, electronics expertise).

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

    • See table below!

11. How will you share the outcomes your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

    • All project files and documentation are released under FLOS licences.
    • We prioritize the use of free/libre software tools for development (GNU/Linux, FreeCAD, KiCAD, OpenSCAD, GRBL, etc.) and documentation.
    • Multimedial documentation will be published on GitLab Pages (with GitBuilding) and/or on video streaming platforms. It will thoroughly cover: assembly instructions, BOM, usage guides, hardware, software, modification guides (design rationales), part specifications and limitations, and links to relevant learning resources.

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

    • It aims to make laboratory automation equipment afordable to laboratories of all budgets.
    • It will not discriminate against any person or group, and foster gender equality.

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

    • Nope.

Our budget

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
Subcontract	Industrial designer / Mechanichal egineer	700	Desgin components’ housing, improve/desgin new parts. Adapt an OSH toolchanging system.
Subcontract	Software engineer / Programmer	700	Review, modularize and package driver software (GUI excluded). Write driver software tests. Consider updating gerbil to support GRBL 1.1h.
Supplies	Components for the final prototype.	500	To make a full, tidy prototype with all features (adding automatic callibration and toolchanging). Build instructions will be based on it’s assembly.
Other expenses	Shipping costs.	100	Shipping costs from abroad to Argentina.

Eye candy

Our work so far

[juul]

1. Name of applicant

Marc Juul

2. Email address

gosh@juul.io

3. What track are you applying to?

New project track.

I was working on this before the pandemic happened and got a good part of the way toward a minimal viable prototype, but it’s definitely not yet an established project.

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences

Drop-in replacement “brain” to liberate and modernize affordable off-the-shelf but out-dated spectrophotometers. Includes open source web-based GUI for control and logging.

Link: https://gitlab.com/juul/spectrometer-resurrector

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them

Analysis is often one of the most expensive, and thus inaccessible, parts of a modern molecular biology lab. Spectrophotometry is one of the most commonly-used analysis methods, yet existing open hardware designs focus almost exclusively on visible light readings of hand-pipetted samples - even though features such as UVC capability and HPLC flow cell measurements open up many important avenues of research.

This limitation of current open designs is reasonable given the cost of UVC-compatible optics and high pressure flow cells. Even if an open design is available, the cost of the components alone will put it out of reach for many.

An intermediate solution is to re-purpose the optics and mechanics of old, outdated and off-the-shelf spectrometry equipment. Even though progress in electronics and software have made many such devices seemingly obsolete, the optics, mechanics and light sources are often equivalent to what is found in their modern counterparts.

Thus the goal of this project is to build an affordable (< $50) open hardware module that will act as a drop-in replacement for the control circuitry in a variety of off-the-shelf spectrometers that can be reasonably purchased on the used market for somewhere in the range of $50-300. In addition, the hardware will include a web-based open source GUI accessible via wifi for control and logging.

The goal for this funding will be limited to supporting one model of spectrometer in phase 1 (more in phase 2), but will seek to create a modular infrastructure for the wider community to continue adding support for a variety of devices.

7. Describe how your organization will create and manage collaboration with others

The project is being developed in sudo room, which is a radically open hackerspace in Oakland, CA, USA. It is open for use by the general public whenever at least one member is present. Sudo Room hosts open hardware hacknights every Tuesday evening (recently restarted after covid hiatus), where people of all skill levels repair and modify electronics together. These events are also attendable virtually thanks to multiple large monitors, webcams, and microphones around the space. I will be working on the project at these events and it will be mentioned in event announcements as an opportunity for collaboration and education.

I am hoping to collaborate with one or more of the projects in Counter Culture Labs or BioCurious (local biohackerspaces) that are currently using UV/vis LC spectrometry, enabling ongoing testing and feedback. In return, collaborating project(s) get to keep one of the “resurrected” spectrometers to further their own goals.

The project is already hosted in a public gitlab repository where all source code, hardware design files and documentation will be developed transparently, with contributions and collaboration from the general public welcome. Links will be included in posts about the project to the GOSH forum.

The project will adopt sudo room’s policies around safe space, leaning on their long community organizing experience.

Assuming I am funded for Phase 2:

I have an established relationship with the open hardware team from Open Insulin, which is actively using UVC LC spectrometry. This team includes a post-graduate researcher specialized in protein purification with access to an academic lab, and may assist as a core alpha tester of this project’s output. I have also initiated a collaboration with DreamSpace Academy in Sri Lanka, whose biolab setup is currently in need of an upgrade. As part of a collaboration with DinaLab I am helping to upgrade their lab using donated equipment from various benefactors around the SF Bay Area. In the coming months, I am planning to travel to DreamSpace Academy in preperation for DinaCon, accompanied by one of these “resurrected” spectrometers, to assist in training people from a variety of skill levels in the use of the spectrometer and other donated equipment.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?

No - not unless you count Phase 2 and the members of DreamSpace Academy (many Tamil), whom I am hoping will use one of the early units, give feedback and help shape the UI/UX design. This work would take place after Phase 1.

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

Membership in the sudo room hackerspace and Counter Culture Labs biohackerspace as mentioned in (7.) - with all the access to tools and experienced software, hardware and wetware hackers that it entails.

Two spectrometers (both Shimadzu SPD-6AV UV/Vis HPLC) and an in-progress prototype of the hardware and software for this model of spectrometer.

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

Phase 1:

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
Equipment	Direct light measurement spectrometer (aseq-instruments.com)	$900	Spectrometer calibration
Personnel	Lead developer pay	$800	Need food to live
Supplies	Low-volume PCB prototype manufacturing	$100	To test circuit board layout
Supplies	Electronic components	$200	To populate circuit board

11. How will you share the outcomes from your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

The source code and design documents (schematic, PCB layout, BOM) will be published and documented in the gitlab repository.

I will also share short video updates of any visually interesting progress, posted to the GOSH forum and Matrix/Mattermost chats for CCL, Open Auto Club, diybio and Open Insulin.

At the end, a user guide with screenshots published as a wiki page and linked from the github repo.

In-person co-learning/co-hacking at sudo room hacknights.

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

I will work with both a French academic lab (phase 1) and Sri Lankan hackerspace (phase 2) labs to inform UI/UX choices. (Sri Lanka is phase 2 due to import difficulties).

The free and open hacknights are held weekly at sudo room which is homed at The Omni Commons. The Omni Commons has strong values of inclusion with some of our members having established both an outdoor 24/7 community fridge and a staffed free store. We cross-announce our events to the other collectives homed at Omni, including Chiapas Support Committee, Food Not Bombs and Global Women’s Strike.

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

No

[AgustinCruz]

1. Name of applicant and organization:

Name: Agustín José Cruz Fernández, Laser-Metal E.I.R.L

2. Email address: 3dmetalprintingproject@gmail.com

3. What track are you applying to?: Established Project Track

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences

This project consists of an Open source, low-cost 3D Metal Printer for developing and low income countries, using an electron beam to sinter the metal powder. This project will spread the GOSH ethos in ways that would not be possible without this grant.

This printer uses an electron beam to selectively melt each layer of metal powder, causing the powder particles to fuse together. After one layer is complete, the build platform is moved down one layer in height. The re-coater comes in again with a fresh layer of powder, and the electron beam starts to induce the fusion of powder particles, causing the new layer to form. This process is repeated until the entire part is finished, making a solid metal part. Each layer height is around 0.05mm to 0.1mm thickness.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them

The goal is to make 3D Metal Printing more affordable to the general public, hospitals, small institutions, organizations and companies around the world. Specifically for developing and low income countries. This project fills a gap that no open hardware successfully fills.
3D Metal Printing is an impactful tool. Making it more accessible will democratize science, engineering and empower people. This low-cost hardware will be able to accelerate innovations in and lower barriers to scientific research.

The technical goal is to make a low cost 3D Metal Printer capable to work with titanium, stainless steel, aluminum, and other 3D metal printing powders. The electron beam focus point diameter is around 0.1mm, and the thickness of each layer of metal powder is 0.05mm to 0.1mm.

The initial work will take place in Chile. Then this project will continue to build and sustain collaboration with people around the world through it’s website wiki, collaborative websites like GitHub, GOSH Open Hardware website, social networks, YouTube and other channels.

This 3D Metal Printer will use already available open source 3D Printing software, like Cura, Slic3r and others. So there is no proprietary software and no black boxes.

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

In Phase 1, there will be two people working in the following activities:
• CAD Design
• Electron beam optics: electron gun optimization
• Testing: Electron gun testing and powder sintering
• Project reporting on GOSH Open Hardware website

In Phase 2 there will be four people working in the following activities:
• Mechanics: Z Axis development
• Metal powder re-coater development
• 3D Metal Printing Testing/Operation
• Electronics: High voltage power supply optimizations
• Software programming
• Electron beam optics: electron gun optimization
• Website creation with the full documentation of the step-by-step instructions to build the 3D Metal Printer, hardware designs, the source code, videos, project reports, etc. GitHub project site creation, GOSH Open Hardware project site creation.
• Project reporting on GOSH Open Hardware website

Also, we’d expect to constantly increase the number of active volunteers over the next months, since this is a global project, and anyone can collaborate.

7. Describe how your organization will create and manage collaboration with others.

Our organization will stress the opportunities that are presented in pre-production, co-creation, customization, and collaboration through open processes of the 3D Metal Printer development. The final 3D Metal Printer can be created, modified, used, or distributed by anyone.

Specifically, the collaboration will be managed in two branches:
-Software collaboration: The 3D Metal Printer project will create a GitHub page, so anyone can browse and download software repositories but only registered users can contribute content to repositories. With a registered user account, users can have discussions, manage repositories, submit software contributions to others’ repositories, and review code changes.
-Hardware collaboration: The project will create a parent category for open science hardware project in GOSH Open Hardware website, where Hardware and operational tests will be fully documented, so anyone can browse and download the schematics, designs, etc. Only registered users can have discussions and submit hardware contributions to others.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?

We are open to including marginalized people in science and hardware and approach people actively to take part. We actively invite women, people of color, people of disability, people from varying social and economic backgrounds to take part in this project.

Our organization is registered in Chile, but our aim was always to connect a global network of individuals and groups from diverse cultures, low resource environments, as they also exist in Chile, America, Europe, as well as everywhere on the globe. We will use the GOSH guidelines for participation and collaboration.

The targets are professionals and amateurs, particularly in low incomes countries. Participation is not restricted to any particular background, country, race, sex, religion, etc. The use of 3D printing in a healthcare system for rural developing communities allows for a unique insight into product and technology adoptions processes in developing communities.

For hospitals located away from major cities, 3D Metal Printing will be practical when supplies run low. This is especially important in farming communities where patients from the nearby fields who come in with work-related injuries could be outfitted with custom splints that are 3D Metal Printed as needed.

We find that entrepreneurs will benefit from this project. Especially early stage entrepreneurs that are not yet financially secure enough to easily afford a 3D Metal Printer. Increasing access for these entrepreneurs ensures greater representation and impact, paving pathways to get these deep-tech innovations more efficiently into the market. Adopting open-source approaches play a key role in this process. The 3D Metal Printer design, plans, videos, schematics will be open and free for any person in the world.

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

Currently, the organization has a workshop in Chile, where the design, development and manufacturing of the equipment and parts are carried out. It has water, electricity and satellite internet to improve connectivity.

It has laboratory equipment, such as oscilloscopes, microscopes, different measurement instruments, high voltage power sources, vacuum pumps, digital vacuum gauges, cooling systems for vacuum pumps, among others.

Additionally, there are automated CNC machines, a laser machine, a mechanical lathe, welding machines, computers, work spaces, and various electrical tools, to manufacture the necessary parts for the project.

There are emergency generator systems to ensure the stability of electricity. There is also all the necessary space to expand the infrastructure, install new machines and increase the number of people to operate the equipment.

There are vehicles to transport cargo. The location is a safe place with controlled access.

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

Phase 1 budget: $5200 USD
Funds: $4600 USD. Own capital: $600 USD
1 April to 5 July 2022 (3 months)

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
Personnel	Professional electric engineer, with experience in building CNC machines, Research & Development. Project leader. 4 months	$3500.00	Needed to design and develop the hardware, operational testing
Personnel	External expert for electron gun design (consultant)	$300.00	Needed as a consultant for general guidelines for the electron gun optimization and to achieve the smallest spot size possible
Subcontracts	CNC Machining: Laser Cutting of Steel and Stainless steel parts	$100.00	Needed to cut the CAD design made of steel and stainless steel parts
Subcontracts	CNC Machining: CNC lathe of steel parts	$200.00	Needed to manufacture the electron gun
Subcontracts	CNC Machining: waterjet cutting of ceramic parts	$100.00	Needed to manufacture the electron gun
Supplies	Steel and Stainless Steel stocks	$100.00	Needed for making the electron gun
Supplies	Ceramic materials	$300.00	Needed to manufacture the electron gun
Supplies	1Kg of Metal powder for sintering testing	$200.00	Needed for powder sintering testing with the electron beam
Other expenses	Shipping costs for ceramic parts	$200.00	Needed to manufacture the electron gun
Other expenses	Project website domain registration (.org or .io) for 5 years	$100.00	Needed to secure the project domain for a long time
Other expenses	Shipping costs for 1Kg of metal powder	$100.00	Needed for powder sintering testing with the electron beam

Phase 2 budget: $19100 USD
Funds: $18000 USD. Own capital: $1100 USD
30 June to 5 November 2022 (4 months)

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
Personnel	Professional electric engineer, with experience in building CNC machines, Research & Development. Project leader. 4 months	$6500.00	Needed to Z Axis development, powder re-coater development, electron gun optimizations, operational testing, reporting, etc
Personnel	External expert for high voltage power supply design (freelance, consultant, etc). Include circuit testing. 1 month	$2000.00	Needed as a consultant for high voltage power source optimization to add feedback and better stability
Personnel	External expert for programming (freelance). 2 weeks	$1000.00	Needed as a freelance for programming the needed code for translating the 3D software output to the printer instructions
Personnel	External expert for electron gun design (freelance, consultant, etc). 2 weeks	$1000.00	Needed as a consultant for the electron gun optimization. To evaluate XY deflection systems
Subcontracts	CNC Machining: Laser Cutting of Steel and Stainless steel parts	$1000.00	Needed to cut the CAD design made of steel and stainless steel parts
Subcontracts	CNC Machining: CNC lathe of steel parts	$700.00	Needed to manufacture the electron gun
Subcontracts	CNC Machining: waterjet cutting of ceramic parts	$300.00	Needed to manufacture the electron gun
Supplies	Steel and Stainless Steel stocks (pipes, bars, tubing, sheets)	$500.00	Needed for making the Z Axis, powder re-coater, electron gun optimizations
Supplies	Ceramic materials	$500.00	Needed to manufacture the electron gun
Supplies	20Kg of Metal powder for testing	$500.00	Needed to make operational 3D Metal Printing tests
Supplies	Vacuum parts: vacuum sensor (gauge), vacuum fittings, vacuum bellows	$800.00	Needed to manufacture the Z Axis and powder re-coater
Supplies	Electronics circuits: High voltage capacitors, high voltage diodes, high frequency ferrite cores, high voltage resistors, mineral oil	$1500.00	High voltage power source optimizations
Other expenses	Shipping costs for ceramic parts	$300.00	Needed to manufacture the electron gun
Other expenses	Shipping costs for 20Kg of metal powder	$1000.00	Needed to make operational 3D Metal Printing tests
Other expenses	Project website hosting for 5 years	$500.00	Needed to make the project website
Other expenses	Shipping costs for vacuum sensor, fitting, bellows	$600.00	Needed to manufacture the Z Axis and powder re-coater
Other expenses	Shipping costs for high voltage supply developed by external consultant	$200.00	Needed to optimize the high voltage supply
Other expenses	Shipping costs for Electronics circuits	$200.00	Needed for different parts of the 3D Meal Printer

The amounts described in both budgets are “before taxes”. Net amounts depend on applicable taxes. Costs are approximated.

11. How will you share the outcomes your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

The 3D Metal Printer Project will have a website wiki with the full documentation of the step-by-step instructions to build the 3D Metal Printer, hardware designs, the source code, videos, project reports, etc.
Also, this material will be permanently available in collaborative websites like GitHub, GOSH Open Hardware website, social networks, YouTube and other channels.

All these materials will be released under OSHWA-compatible licenses for hardware, free software licenses for software, and CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-SA 4.0 for others

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

3D Metal Printer Project directly addresses GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion. Enabling an exchange across different people in developing countries.

We invite free-lancers, creatives, hackers and artists, alongside researchers from established research institutions and professional hardware/software developers.

By explicitly using the GOSH guidelines to outline this project, we ensure that the issues of diversity, respect, inclusion and tolerance are foregrounded in all the processes.

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

Conflicts of interest: None

14. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.

Currently there is an advanced functional prototype, with more than 5 years of research and development with its own capital. This prototype is used to carry out initial tests and verify technical aspects before making larger investments.

The most important technical challenges are already 70% solved. The functional prototype is composed of a vacuum chamber made of stainless steel, a vacuum pump system, an electron gun, high voltage power sources, electrical connections, cooling systems, sensors, among others.

At this time the prototype is capable of generating a 0.5mm diameter electron beam, focusing it on a metal surface and moving it in XY axis. In this way, it is possible to heat a metal piece using the electron beam. Currently, optimization of the electron gun is being worked on, evaluating different configurations to reduce the size of the spot from 0.5mm to 0.1mm in diameter or less.

After that technical milestone is met, the next step will be to add the Z-axis and a metal powder re-coater. The Z axis will be composed of a stepper motor, guides, linear bearings and a controller.

The metal powder will be ordered and 3D printing tests will be carried out on different metals (titanium, stainless steel, aluminum, etc.)

You can see the video of the advanced prototype here:
3D Metal Printer - Electron gun tests

15. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award? This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.

Phase 1 - Total Weeks: 12
Budget: 5200 USD
Funds: $4600 USD. Own capital: $600 USD

Time	Details	Estimated Cost in USD
Week 1	Professional electrical engineer: Ordering metal powders used for 3D Metal Printing (titanium, stainless steel and aluminum powders). This activity includes quotations from different metal powder providers and manufacturers overseas. Cost includes shipping. Project reporting on GOSH Open Hardware website	M:$300 HR:$292
Week 1	Project website domain registration (.org or .io) for 5 years	M:$100
Week 2-3	Professional electrical engineer: Electron gun CAD design and simulations using electron beam optics software. Project reporting on GOSH Open Hardware website	HR:$583
Week 2	An external expert will suggest the best electron gun design. Project reporting on GOSH Open Hardware website	HR:$300
Week 4-7	Subcontracts and Professional electrical engineer: Electron gun manufacturing. Steel parts are manufactured in a CNC lathe, then are polished and welded in our workshop. Ceramic parts are water cutted, then grinded in our workshop to have a smooth surface. Project reporting on GOSH Open Hardware website	M:$1000 HR:$1168
Week 8-9	Professional electrical engineer: Electron gun testing. Spot size diameter measurements. Testing on different metal surfaces. Project reporting on GOSH Open Hardware website	HR:$583
Week 10-11	Professional electrical engineer: Electron gun testing on a thin layer of metal powder. Powder sintering testing. Project reporting on GOSH Open Hardware website	HR:$583
Week 12	Professional electrical engineer: Final Project reporting on GOSH Open Hardware website. Phase 1 summary	HR:$291

M: Material. HR: Human resource

16. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?

In Phase 1 the essential milestone is the focusing of the electron gun to a 0.1mm diameter spot. The current electron gun is capable of focusing to a 0.5mm diameter spot. This will offer the possibility in Phase 2 to 3D metal printing very fine details.
Also in Phase 1 will be carried out the first powder sintering tests. Every step will be documented on GOSH Open Hardware website

17. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps?

In Phase 2, the next step is integrating the Z axis and the powder coating system. Three external consultants will participate in this Phase, working in the programming, electronics and the electron gun design. The goal is to use common electronics components, so people from developing and low income countries can build, modify and repair easily.
Also in Phase 2 will take place the first operational 3D Metal Printing tests.
Every step will be documented on GOSH Open Hardware website

18. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel, supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses (equipment).

Breakdown of allowable direct costs for Phase 1:

• Personnel: $3800
- $3500: Agustín Cruz. Professional Electric Engineer, with experience in CNC projects, Research & Development
- $300: External consultant on electron optics
• Supplies: $400
- $100: Steel and stainless steel stocks (bars, pipes, tubing, sheets)
- $300: Ceramic parts (discs, plates, sheets)
- $200: 1Kg of Metal powder for sintering testing
• Subcontracts: $400
- $200: CNC lathe machining on steel and stainless steel parts
- $100: Laser cutting steel and stainless steel parts
- $100: Water jet cutting ceramic parts
• Other expenses: $400
- $200: Shipping costs for ceramic parts
- $100: Shipping costs for metal powder
- $100: Project website domain registration

Pictures and videos:
3D Metal Printer - Electron gun tests

[NKnight]

1. Name of applicant(s)

Makers UP

• Natalia Suárez (UTEC-Uruguay)
• Florencia Sosa (UTEC-Uruguay)
• Angelo Ferrari (UTEC-Uruguay)
• Darlia Gomez (UTEC-Uruguay)
• Juan Etchart (UTEC-Uruguay)
• Nicole Caballero (UNMSM-Peru)
• Sayda Huacre (UNMSM-Peru)

2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact):

natalia.suarez@estudiantes.utec.edu.uy

florencia.sosa@estudiantes.utec.edu.uy

angelo.ferrari@estudiantes.utec.edu.uy

darlia.gomez@estudiantes.utec.edu.uy

juan.etchart@estudiantes.utec.edu.uy

nicole.caballero@unmsm.edu.pe

sayda.huacre@unmsm.edu.pe

3. What track are you applying to?

• New Project Track

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences:

It is a device that helps the caregiver to transfer the patient to and from the wheelchair, without taking up so much space and is easy to use. This project supports people with disabilities that have greater difficulty performing tasks of daily life, especially in mobility.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them:

• Facilitate in the transfer of the person to and from their wheelchair regardless of where they are.
• Make it easier for the caregiver to transfer the person with a disability, reducing the burden and effort that he or she must make
• Provide security when making a transfer.
• Design focusing on accessibility and low cost

We aim to develop a device that serves as a support for the person to use when transferring or transferring another person to or from the wheelchair. This device must be portable so that the person can take it with them anywhere. It must also be within an optimal weight so that it does not bother when it is being stored and that it can enter narrow or less common places with it.

To achieve this, we first design a concept in collaboration with a specialist from a Rehabilitation Center and, if possible, with the patient. Mainly mechanisms, different uses and possible failures are discussed. Then we go into materials, selection of them, dimensioning, and more in detail with the mechanisms, always asking the specialist. In addition to the documentation that goes with it, photos, videos, manuals, etc. A pre-prototype is assembled to better visualize the design, and finally it is passed to prototyping. We also consult with other design and mechanical professionals to give extra verification to what has been done.

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

We currently have 7 volunteers. We are 5 Uruguayan students of careers such as Biomedical and Mechatronics Engineering from the Technological University of Uruguay. Also two Peruvian biomedical engineering students from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.

7. Describe how your organism will create and manage collaboration with others.

The project steps will be documented and blog posts of the different phases will be published on the blog of the TOM UNMSM and IEEE UNMSM as well as shared via social media. All documents (hardware design, bill of materials) will be published on GitHub.

Project progress will be shared on the GOSH forum and social networks.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation, or other identification? If so, how?

The team is formed by latin american and afro-descendant students from public universities. One of the uruguayan students has the Chamanga Foundation Scholarship, a vocational scholarship to support the studies of people with socioeconomic difficulties or family circumstances that prevent them from completing their education. Our team also has two students with scholarships from Pronabec, an institution of the Peruvian State, for situations of poverty. Also in the project we will be working with Needknowers to validate our solution and they are people with motor disabilities.

9. What resources/infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

• Welding Laboratory - UTEC Uruguay
• Lab A - UTEC University (Uruguay): Is like a prototyping and 3d printing lab.
• Network with professionals in assistive technology
• Student Github Resources
• We have highly skilled volunteers

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
Materials	PVC material, pulleys, nuts, hinges, etc.	$600,00	Materials needed to develop the prototype
Equipment	wheelchair, laboratory equipment	$600,00	Necessary to carry out the tests with the first prototype
Subcontract	hire experienced precision engineer for CAD drawing review & finishing touches	$400,00	to prepare all designs for manufacturing
Travel	Bus Tickets	$430,00	to travel to the university city when using the equipment
Others	Shipping Costs, Documentation, Videos Filming	$500,00
Total		$2.530,00

11. How will you share the outcomes of your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

We are participating of the Abraham Accords Open Innovation Challenge (AAOIC) is a 6-week competition in humanitarian innovation among teams of student-makers and need-knowers to create open-source, affordable, and accessible solutions to neglected challenges of people living with disabilities. In the TOM tradition, all solutions are open source and will be documented and uploaded to the TOM platform, making them accessible to anyone anywhere.

• Documentation: Videos, Images, CAD and STL files. Manuals, bill materials, etc.

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

Our team aims to design assistive technology that is accessible to as many people as possible, at low cost and to those who need it most. Currently this technology is very expensive, takes up a lot of space and is not accessible in many ways to different people. In addition, we focus on helping not only the person with a disability but also those who help them, to improve the lifestyle of both the patient and their caregiver.

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

None.

[FranQuero]

1. Name of applicant(s)

Francisco Javier Quero
Urs Gaudenz
Smitha S Hegde
Marc Dusseiller
Shingo Hisakawa
Ganga Chinna Rao Devarapu
Harry Akligoh

2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)

Francisco.quero@cri-paris.org

3. What track are you applying to?

Established Project Track

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences

Affordability and accessibility are the two main existing challenges that are limiting the global use of real-time nucleic acid amplification test (RT-NAAT) for infectious disease diagnosis for human health and agriculture; water purity testing; teaching and research purpose; GMO detection or personal health for home-testing. We aim to bridge this gap by developing an open-source, <50$ RT-NAAT that is easy to replicate without black-boxes, simple to use and accessible to every corner of the world.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them

Quantitative RT-NAAT is the gold standard for the detection of genetic material for various purposes. Although a decade has passed since the first open-source thermocyclers designs, RT-NAAT is still withstanding to arrive into the open-source panorama and hence, also limited its application for disease detection and management, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). The few existing designs (f.e https://www.chaibio.com) still range in the order of thousands of dollars. With a decrease in price and improved accessibility, the significant impact of these technologies is huge and spread around fields such as infectious disease diagnosis, personal diagnostics, environmental or food testing and water purity analysis. We aim to fill this gap by developing an affordable, easily accessible, open-source RT-NAAT device and hope that it can be a future alternative at point-of-care (POC) testing centres, schools and research institutes.

We here count on our several years of experience in developing low-cost (<1$), open-source, self-sustainable NAAT based on LAMP, an isothermal amplification technology that is rapid and highly sensitive. We have demonstrated this for detecting various targets like Sars-Cov-2 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8730511/), GMO (https://gmodetective.com/), typhoid (https://openbioeconomy.org/projects/cas12-typhoid-diagnostics/) and were also tested with clinical samples in LMIC, promoting its selection as a semifinalist in the Rapid COVID Testing XPRIZE (The XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing challenge selects ‘Corona Detective’ and 3 other projects on Just One Giant Lab as semi-finalists | by Marianna Limas | JustOneGiantLab | Medium). Application of this technology will be at the base of the hardware design, which will carry the isothermal incubation while reading the resulting fluorescence signal in real-time.
In this project, we rely on the extensive experiences of the applicants who are pioneers in developing open-source PCR hardware (pocketPCR, ninjaPCR/qPCR) and a newly developed prototype for RT-LAMP. We combine the device design from these prototypes to build a quantitative LAMP (qLAMP) device that is also compatible with any isothermal amplification reaction (see Figure1). In order to reduce the time for design reviewing and rapidly prototype, we here will employ a hackathon-like approach, where a ten days residence at the Learning Planet Institute (LPI), Paris, will be organised for the experts to come together.

Figure1. (A) Prototype of an existing qLAMP device that we have previously developed. The prototype incubates the 8 reactions at a (B) constant temperature of 65ºC while reading the (C) resulting fluorescence signal in real-time. The device can also be controlled by a phone or computer through the local network to carry out protocols and record real-time signals.

During Phase I of this project, we do not anticipate sourcing any professional experts, as the applicants have several years of experience in the development of open-source hardware. However, during the next Phase of the project, we will seek professional experts from trusted manufacturer companies experienced in scaling open-source hardware models (Seeedstudio, Shenzhen) to produce the first batches of the technology. We will also distribute the hardware to our collaborators (Open Bioeconomy Lab, UK; Mboalab, Cameroon; HivebioLab, Ghana) to test the expected performances and its applicability with the end-users.

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

For phase I, the main core of the project consists of seven researchers from Switzerland, Paris, Japan, Ireland and UK that will work in the hardware designs. During Phase II we will work with a broader team of professional experts in large scale manufacturing solutions and local partners located in LMIC that will study the applicability of the designs.

7. Describe how your organisation will create and manage collaboration with others.

Centred around the core principle of building a global alliance of educational stakeholders to empower learning for better future, LPI has worked for several years on collaborative open-source projects, including isothermal amplifications (Projects) and open-source medical devices. It also boasts infrastructure and experience in hosting workshops, hackathons and conferences. Based on a long experience in hosting project-based learning, LPI has established itself as a relevant community for disseminating knowledge to the residents, maximising the impact and reaching new possible partners. These work ethics and infrastructure of LPI will hence enable us to build an open-source network to increase the accessibility of the device globally.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?

Quantitative real-time DNA amplification is at the heart of either diagnosing infectious disease or any section of biology research. Use of these devices has been limited due its cost and availability, therefore, refuting to elaborate and end-point methods like gel-electrophoresis. This project will change accessibility and affordability of this device to specially low-income countries either for POC or teaching purposes. Furthermore, the core of the project includes researchers and collaborators from diverse geographical backgrounds, professional expertise and socioeconomic origins, either at the development stage or at the end-user level at the next phases.

9. What resources/infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

LPI counts with a fully equipped MakerLab with standard digital fabrication equipment (Laser cutters, FDM and SLA 3D printers, wood and metal CNCs, fully equipped electronics prototyping station etc) and fully functional wetlabs with all the necessary standard molecular biology equipment and essential reagents. During the ten days residency and following that, both these spaces will be accessible to the applicants that could speed-up the prototype reviewing, testing and calibrating. The Institute has also experience in hosting several science and community events that will be helpful in hosting this ten day residency event to cover within the budget of the project. Fran Quero, applicant of this project, has been also working towards producing self-sustainable, low-cost enzymes and reagents for LAMP test at LPI, these resources will be used in this project for device measurements and also testing at later stages of the project.

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

As detailed in Section 18, the budget will be distributed to organise a ten-day workshop at the LPI and the raw materials necessary for design review and modifications. As the applicants are based in the UK, various parts of Europe and Japan, a part of the budget will support the hosting cost, travel and subsistence cost of the applicants in Institute’s budget accommodation or Airbnb. With the kind cost support from the Institute’s existing Makerlab and wet lab facilities, the second part of the funding will be dedicated to securing raw materials like 3D printing filaments, PCB, electronics and components for optics. Additional costs to travel or accommodation that are not covered by this grant will be funded by an applicant’s (Urs Gaudenz) additional travel budget from Shuttleworth Foundation (5000$).

11. How will you share the outcomes of your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

The outcomes, detailed device design, assembly, safety guidelines and operational protocol will be documented elaborately in WiKi with photos and videos.

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

As an outcome of the project, an open-source and low-cost device will be produced or distributed at a nominal cost to anyone, at any part of the world. This bridges some of the gaps in affordable diagnostics for human health, research and training purposes for an equitable future.

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

The current project builds further on the open qLAMP that was previously developed in collaboration with Jenny Molloy, Open Bioeconomy Lab, who has been the Co-PI on the project (follow the link to see the project design: https://gitlab.com/open-bioeconomy-lab/diagnostics-hardware/rt-lamp-device) and who has a conflict of interest as a Director of GOSH Inc, the organisation that is administering the funding. The members of the open qLAMP project are also the applicants in the current proposal but Jenny was not involved in the conception, design or drafting of this proposal and will not receive any funding or other direct support from the grant if awarded. Her lab may receive prototypes for testing in line with all other collaborators.

14. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.

The proposed work plan for this project will build on the existing open qLAMP prototype (Figure 1) to include an improved detection approach based on the knowledge from previous open source devices of the applicants like pocketPCR and ninjaPCR. The design will consider replacing the existing photodiodes with low-cost cameras, optical waveguides that can improve the sensitivity of detection, improved signal-to-noise ratio, long operational life, highly robust designs, component availability and reduced cost of production. The device will be built to detect the fluorescence signal from dyes like SYBR, Syto dyes and probes like FAM and Alex, which have different quantum yields and working concentration range. It will also be tested to maintain isothermal incubation temperature necessary for LAMP (65℃) and also its extensibility to other isothermal amplification techniques like RPA,(37℃), CRISPR-Cas detection temperature (45-55℃) and thermocycling for PCR, if need be.

15. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award?

This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.
(i) During the first session of the project (April), at the LPI, a low-cost lyophilized LAMP reaction with the existing reagents and protocol will be prepared that can be used for several rounds of testing and calibration. The applicants will meet online to review the designs of various existing devices that will be used during the residency and necessary essential raw materials needed for rapid review and design will be ordered to the Institute. During this session, travel tickets, hosting formalities will be completed.
(ii)The second session (May) of the project covers the ten day marathon (excluding the travel time) and the necessary set-up of the Makerslab for the event. The residents will use the first half of the residency time to experiment, review, construct functional prototypes using technologies like digital manufacturing and open source prototyping electronics. In the second half of the residency, the final prototype will be tested using the wetlab resources for its performance like temperature stability, fluorescence signal sensitivity and robustness.
(iii)In the final session of the project (June): a detailed device design, necessary assembly and testing protocols with photos and video demonstration will be documented for open use. The cost of production will be reviewed and prepared for the next mass production and distribution Phase. Various manufacturing techniques such as mould extrusion, large scale PCB assembly, quality assessment will be discussed and reviewed with various vendors (new and previous projects).

16. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?

Milestone1: By the end of the session 2 of the project, a functional, low-cost (<100$) qLAMP device that is compatible with various fluorescence dyes and probes, to in-house and commercial LAMP reagents. Milestone2: Towards the end of the project, we aim to complete all the above mentioned documentation to make the design open-source.

17. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps?

During Phase II, we will work to produce and deploy the device (see Figure 2) for research labs and POCs in LMIC with limited accessibility to other devices.
We will adapt the prototype to standard industry manufacturing techniques (mould extrusion, large scale PCB assembly etc) together with a professional expert panel in large scale manufacturing (SeeedStudio, Shenzhen; Tsinghua University, Shenzhen Campus).
For the applicability, we will work together with local partners (Mboalab, Cameroon; HivebioLab,Ghana) to test the system under real situations. The system will be tested for targets like SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples (using above mentioned Corona Detective), typhoid detection (CRISPR-TyphoidDx,Open Bioeconomy Lab) and many more.

18. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel, supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses (equipment).

Cost category	Details	Unitary Cost (USD)	Quantity	Estimated total cost (USD)
Travel cost	Travel to Learning Planet Insitute for the 10 day residency
Transportation within Paris	Commute within Paris for 5 participants	100	5 persons	500
Flights to Paris	Transportation from European researchers hometowns to Paris	400	4 persons	1600
International Flights	Transportation from Non-European researchers hometowns to Paris	700	1 person	700
Hosting	Accommodation and subsistence for 5 participants
Accommodation	budget accommodation like Airbnb	700	5 persons	3500
Food	30$ per day	300	5 persons	1500
Materials expenses	Materials cost for rapid prototyping
3D printing materials	ABS, PETG and PLA filaments for FDM printers and resin for SLA printers	300	-	300
Optics	Camera, waveguide, fluorescence filters	400	-	400
Electronics	PCB, solder, integrated circuits, photodiodes…	500	-	500
Laser cutter materials	Cardboard for prototyping and acrylic sheets	200	-	200
Lab consumables	Pipette tips, tubes, eppendorfs	500	-	500
LAMP reaction reagents	Lyophilized LAMP reactions prepared by LPI	500	-	500
Management Expenses	Expense towards running cost of the residency
LPI budget management	LPI budget management expenses % of the received money from GOSH.	368	-	368
Makerspace and WetLabs management expenses	Lab manager from LPI to coordinate the residency event	200	10 days	2000
Total Cost				12568
Additional sources of funding
Cost covered by LPI	Wetlab materials, lab manager cost and Makerspace cost			3000
Additional travel grant	Covered by an applicant’s Shuttleworth foundation towards travel			5000
Final cost covered by GOSH funding				4568

[FranQuero]

Figure 2: The final expected version of the prototype for Phase II.

[MalteLarsen]

1. Name of applicant(s): DreamSpace Academy (Project associates: Malte Larsen, Cristian Silva, Alessandro Volpato​​​, Pramodya, Abilajini, Jerushan, Abishek)

2. Email address: [malte@mikrobiomik.org] info@dreamspace.academy

3. What track are you applying to?- New Project Track (complete questions 4-9)

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences

We will develop a CFT (Continuous Flow Through) Vermiculture System to turn organic waste into organic fertilizer with low-cost components for marginalized communities in Sri Lanka to counteract inorganic agriculture fertilizer ban and foster food security and circular economy!

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them.

• To develop a low-tech vermiculture solution that can easily be reproduced by local people in Sri Lanka - We will achieve this by reproducing existing technology with locally available resources.

• To teach farmers in Sri Lanka everything about worms and how to utilize them for profit - We will achieve this by building a demonstration plant and making all processes and economic data transparent, ready to be reproduced.

• To empower DreamSpace Academy to manufacture all parts for this CFT-System - We will achieve this by developing a series of prototypes and developing workspaces for serial production for the final design.

• To build a demonstration platform at DreamSpace Academy for further development, education and research - We will achieve this in partnership with local stakeholders to showcase how the system works and performing workshops with the aim to provide maximum transparancy.

Background Knowledge

Vermicompost is produced by earthworms, for example, Eisenia fetida. This worm is working with a multitude of bacteria and other organisms to turn organic waste into valuable fertilizer. It contains not only plant-available nutrients but also growth-triggering hormones and a beneficial soil microbiome. Vermicompost can be dried or added as an additive to the soil to boost plant performance. Furthermore, it can be liquified (worm tea) and added as a liquid fertilizer to crops. Seed treatment with worm tea is also an option to strengthen young plants before planting. The CFT-System is excellent for a continuous supply of organic waste and a continuous harvest. Earthworms prefer the upper 20cm of topsoil to live, in the soil layer on the bottom no worms will accumulate. A sword will harvest worm-free compost with a rope winch and press it through a matrix of holes on the bottom. To empower people to build these systems and produce high value fertilizer they can potentially improve the situation caused by inorganic agriculture fertilizer ban and empower farmers to farm organically but also productive with local resources!

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

Malte Larsen (biohacking, vermiculture, project manager and initiator, metal/wood crafting)

Alessandro Volpato (life sciences facilitator, interdisciplinary research, educator and workshop expert, developing educational programmes for empowerment)

Cristian Silva (Biotechnologist, Molecular diagnostics and alzheimers’ disease biomarker discovery, Guardian of Biolab at DreamSpace Academy, Founder of Benzyme Ventures, Community builder, Statistical analysis)

Pramodya (Applied biologist, Assistant guardian of biolab at DreamSpace Academy, Statistical analysis)

Jerushan (3D modeller, Electro mechanical engineer, Guardian of mechanics lab at DreamSPace Academy)

Abishek (farmers initiatives relations, organic farmer)

Abilajini (local communication expert)

7. Describe how your organisation will create and manage collaboration with others.

DreamSpace Academy has strong roots in the local community and has been working on peacebuilding and reconciliation in the area for years. DreamSpace Academy’s team members have strong ties to farming and other agricultural practices in the area.

In 2020 DreamSpace Academy collaborate with igem SORA team (Team:Korea-SIS - 2020.igem.org) to develop a biosensor solution to detect fungal infections in collected paddy in warehouses. We initiated the interviews with local farmers and rural communities as a part of the project. Since we already did work with farming communities in the area, it is relatively easy to get support from local farmers to conduct field experiments.

We will address growth parameters of crops, soil carbon increase, and other relevant parameters to improve the system and provide reliable data to farmers and partners. Collected data will be processed by qualified bio lab staff with scientific backgrounds. For additional support, if needed DreamSpace Academy will initiate collaborations with state universities as we did for other projects (ex- DreamFungi).

To record the data from field trials - farmers will support the project. Additionally, DreamSpace Academy has a 3-acre ecovillage (DreamHive) and initial experiments can be conducted in our own land with the help of local farmers and volunteers.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?

Sri Lanka suffered from 3 decades of War and Batticaloa where DreamSpace Academy is located in one of the areas highly affected by war. The project will be highly beneficial for communities affected by war and lost traditional farmland due to war.

DreamSpace Academy Bio Lab team members are coming from different parts of the country (West, South and East) and have ties to different regional communities of Sinhalese and Tamils in the country. The team is multicultural and belongs to different religions as well (Catholic, Buddhist and Hindu). With a team like that this project has the capacity to spread across the country with farmers who has different socioeconomic and religious beliefs

DreamSpace Bio Lab is planning to expand its existing organic farming project with volunteers from under developed war affected areas in east side of the country and get involved unemployed women in rural families. With training programs and workshop our goal is to support these underserved communities with income generating methods.

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

DreamSpace Academy has labs for biology, electronics, mechanics, software engineering, storytelling, business development and music. In this project mainly bio lab, mechanics and electronics labs will be working together to complete the project.

Recently, DreamSpace Academy developed a container based micro factory space for mechanical work with CNC laser machine 1390, CNC router 1325 (woodworking type), drill press, welding plant, cutoffs machine, bench grinder, Miter saw, bench sander, hand grinder, hand driller, circular saw, jig saw, router, air blower, sander and the entire space named as DreamSpace Collective. DreamSpace collective is currently doing local and foreign client projects in terms of designing and building electromechanical projects for companies. The DreamSpace collective is currently working with 3 full time team members and building a local community of trainees to support local economy by conducting workshops.

DreamSpace Bio Lab is currently working on developing organic farming and indoor farming (hydropinc, aeroponic) solutions to local communities after Sri Lankan governments’’ failed attempt to conduct farming only with organic fertilizers. At the moment we are producing organic fertilizers in small scale but in order meet the local demand the lab need larger infrastructure and machines. We already have hydroponic system prototype and one of the team members of the lab is working on finishing the prototype.

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
Supplies	Materials for the frame, rope winch, roof (weather protection), and lots of small stuff, and worms	$1500.00	Building of the prototype I on DreamAcadamy project site
Travel	Travel cost for team members	$500.00	In order to travel to farmers and also enable team members to participate in the project

11. How will you share the outcomes of your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

To sum up the building process we will make a video with detailed “how-to” instructions that empower everyone to copy it. In addition to that, we will provide good documentation on PDF to increase access to the information if digital media isn’t available.

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

We actively empower women and all ethnic groups to participate in our projects already and we will continue to do so. We live the GOSH’s values in our project. This project will be no exception and we are highly engaged to motivate women and members of all ethnic groups to participate with us!

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?
No.

[Nat_Irwin]

1. Name of applicant(s)

Organization: Open Science Shop

Core Members:

• Nat Irwin
• Stephane Fadanka
• Greg Austic
• Jenny Molloy

2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)

admin@openscienceshop.com

3. What track are you applying to? (select one):

• Established Project Track (complete questions 4-18)

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences

We are creating a distributed manufacturing network, consisting of open source scientific hardware developers and manufacturers. This structure is meant to provide intermediary services between person and lab as a way to support the transition of OScH from developers’ garages to mass market.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them

Goals:

Manufacture in a way that supports our shared goals (a la the Manifesto)

• Provide users with a consistent, comparable, high quality product
• Provide users with high quality, context-appropriate support + feedback
• Create sustainable business by ensuring sufficient amount of work for partners
• Provide skilled opportunities for hardware engineers
• Provide local technical support and maintenance options
• Increase access to OScH in the regions close to the distributed manufacturers
• Proving that openness combined with environmental and economic sustainability is feasible

We intend to achieve these goals by creating a collective of OSH manufacturers and developers.

Cooperative Concept:

Cooperative comprising of two groups:

1. Developers of tech
2. Manufacturers of tech

Developers define a product agreement for each product which primarily defines their % for sales of that products.

Within each product, there are distribution agreements with each manufacturer based on zones. This defines the % of sales to manufacturers, as well as who is responsible for what in the supply chain for that manufacturing - sales channel.

Patronage (i.e. if the coop produces profits, how those profits are distributed) is based on use of the coop (for producers - total sales of their product lines, for manufacturers - total value of manufactured products) and distributed to members as per normal cooperative rules.

Voting is 1 member : 1 vote.

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

• Within the central organization, 3 part-time (central administrator + marketing)

• Additionally, we have 3 organizations willing to join as our first set of developers and manufacturers (Beneficial Bio, Our Sci, and Tympan)

• As we sale, we will have more OSH developers and manufacturers join the collective

7. Describe how your organization will create and manage collaboration with others.

Collaboration will be managed via our collective structure and via our central admin. Here is our structural concept:

Basic Structure from first-pass distribution agreement

We have a governance structure such that manufacturers and developers, on a collective-wide and on a product by product basis, can agree to the specifications of the collaboration.

We have a ‘collective-wide’ ‘constitution’ that:

• Described what toolchains we use
• Outlines how we control and provide the QA / QC trademark
• Has a mechanism for members of the collective to flag if issue arises with a regional manufacturer (e.g. they aren’t following toolchain, violating QA/QC trademark, etc) and determine remedial action.
• Details decision-making for collectively pushing out new versions of a manufacturing package including QA/QC systems and support, mapped to hardware versions released by the developer
• Identifies and tracks against our plan for economic and environmental sustainability
• Provides values based equity assessment and plan for improvement – what additional training could be useful for developers, engineers, etc.
• Explains how we are ensuring that regional labor is treated fairly – for instance we don’t inadvertently promote poor labor practices – this should be protected for.

The ‘collective’ is responsible for:

• Centralized marketing
• Maintaining a centralized website with forum, tech support, etc.
• Onboarding / offboarding partners
• Maintaining legal paperwork (agreements w/ partners)
• Centralized payments (payments from buyers to manufacturers, separating + sending a cut to developers…)
• Pooling requests and contributions from members to get additional improvements to the hardware e.g. that aren’t on the developer’s roadmap and they would not do otherwise.
• Helping navigate local regulations, necessary insurances (e.g. product liability), external testing and certification that might be required (e.g. EMC). Doing these things remains the responsibility of each manufacturer, although there might be options to pool resources e.g. insurance across a specific region.
• Maintaining any software tools to help with QA/QC or private sharing and support between members.

We have a product-by-product ‘constitution’ that says

• Who is the developer(s) of this product?
• What % of sales goes to the developer?
• What % of sales goes to the co-op/collective to cover the aforementioned services provided by the cooperative, and the ability to grow the cooperative (identify new developers, manufacturers, etc.)
• What spec’s must be hit to assign the quality mark on this product?How are those spec’s identified and put in place (manufacturers + developers (?))?
• What is the sales zone for this product?

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?

The core members of our team reflect the diversity that we hope to see in all innovative and collaborative spaces. Our core members include people from marginalized regions of the world, races, socioeconomic classes, genders and sexual orientations. Half of our core members are women or transgender.

Our team is currently split between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Cameroon. As we expand, we expect to establish more network hubs in nations that are typically left out of product development and manufacturing. This will facilitate hyperlocal innovation ecosystems, and increase community resilience as well as global collaboration.

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

In terms of funding, this project is jointly supported by Beneficial Bio and Our Sci LLC. We have established this as a separate LLC under the name “Open Science Shop,” but will transition it to a cooperative as we scale. However, in order to move this beyond a side project for Our Sci and Beneficial Bio employees, we need the funding for this to become a self-sufficient project.

With regards to resources, Beneficial Bio and Our Sci both have manufacturing spaces that will be two of the first manufacturing hubs in the cooperative. Between these two organizations, we will source our first five open science hardware products, which will be used to validate our distributive method. Our Sci and Beneficial Bio are also jointly supporting two marketing contractors in Cameroon, in order to get branding assets and a website designed for the Open Science Shop in the coming weeks. Finally, Our Sci’s data management software, SurveyStack, is an ideal platform for building out standard operative procedures, quality control, and failure reporting systems that are accessible for all products and manufacturers in the network.

Lastly, we are particularly well-positioned for success through relationships and a history with diverse developer and manufacturer communities. Beneficial Bio and Our Sci have been involved in GOSH, Journal of Open Science Hardware, Hardware X, GOAT, OpenTEAM, Shuttleworth Foundation and many other activities where potential developers and manufacturers interested in this structure live.

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

In order to get this collective off the ground and self-sustained, the Open Science Shop needs to have enough funding for someone to be at least part-time employed as an operations lead. We will also need a marketing team and legal retainer. We are beginning to fundraise a budget that could carry us through three years of the following expenses:

• Operational Lead’s salary paid for at least three years (to reach profitability)

  • allows us to get all operations working, which will allow us to scale

  • allows us to bring on new products and test our organizational / sales structure

    • goal is to have X products in Y locations, with Z manufacturing partners, and A developer partners*

    *These quantitative goals are difficult to define at this stage. If we complete both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of this program, we could likely quantify these goals for a three-year timeline at that time

• Marketing Inputs

  • secure the brand / website / capacity to sell and recruit more developers and manufacturers
  • marketing products within the distributed collective to scale for products to be profitable

• Legal Expenses

  • Creating templates for product agreements, developer agreements, and manufacturer agreements
  • Establishing a collective-based structure (to transition away from the LLC incorporation that we currently have)
  • Fulfilling any legal requirements of onboarding new products, developers, and manufacturers as we scale

Phase I funding will not cover any of our projected costs above in full. However, this funding will facilitate the following:

• A better understanding our market and how to scale
• Operationalization of existing opportunities
• Preparation for next round of funding

This funding will help us get here by supplementing some of the co-funding we have from Beneficial Bio and Our Sci as we continue to fundraise from other sources. It will provide us with some degree of validation, since we could declare having been awarded a grant on future applications. It would also make us eligible for grants that match existing funding. Most importantly, the Phase I grant buys us time to take incremental steps forward as we work toward financial and operational success.

11. How will you share the outcomes of your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

This project is the embodiment of concepts developed in an open distribution and documentation working group. At the culmination of that group, we published the “Distributed Manufacturing of Open Hardware: A Report of the Open Hardware Distribution & Documentation Working Group.” When our implementation of these goals and structures are successful, we would continue to highlight this paper, and iterate on our findings of what works and what should be revised.

Additionally, we would plan to make our collective structures and processes public, so that others could replicate this structure. In our research and working group discussions, we found it difficult to conceptualize how a collective like this would operate logistically and legally. If successful with our Phase I goals, we would hope to patch some of the holes in resources with the following public information:

• A legal framework that manufacturers and developers can meaningfully review
• The sales channels and zoning logistics for our distributed sales structure

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

A significant portion of our value proposition applies to developers and manufacturers in partnership with the collective. Our ability to support them enables greater diversity and inclusion in both the development and manufacturing processes of OSH.

Value Proposition for Partners:

• access to the trademark (open, quality standard that supports designers)
• supports marketing + sales
  • support the manufacturing trademark (make consumers care!)
  • aggregate demand (go to one website, and we send orders in your zones to you)
  • aggregate forum + discussions to build a sense of community + comfort.
  • marketing that we’re supporting developers
  • better technical support (feature development) through access to developers
• internal process improvements + information sharing
  • Information is accessible to other groups
  • Institutional Knowledge, sharing best practices
  • Academic or publishing support
  • Mentorship + advisory support
• do what you want to do more…
  • Outsource things you don’t want to do (dev’s want to develop, manufacturers want to manufacture).
• enables greater diversity of developers / manufacturers
  • Manufacturers can be smaller and grow more flexibly
  • Developers can maintain a wider range of projects + interests w/ out large, concentrated investments of time.
  • Share overhead, and therefore reduce overhead / upfront cost for everyone
• OScH is too complicated for traditional manufacturers
• OScH is too varied and often small-scale (100s of units not M) for traditional manufacturers
• We want something consistent with our goals and values (see GOSH Manifesto and Roadmap)
• OScH needs repair, maintenance and calibration - the people who built it are well placed to provide this so distributed manufacturing should increase % of equipment that is actually working.
• OScH is not a commodity, it has deep value because hardware underpins science, innovation and STEAM education so there are positive feedback loops from increased local availability

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

Jenny Molloy and Greg Austic are both integral to the Open Science Shop project. Neither Jenny nor Greg should be on the review committee for this opportunity. Because of Jenny’s ties to this grant and GOSH overall, she did not contribute directly or review this application, but is aware that we are applying to the GOSH Collaborative Development Program.

For applicants to the Established Project Track, in addition to the questions above, answer the questions below to briefly describe your project design and implementation plan.

14. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.

In order to test our collaborative and distributed structure, we will be working with Our Sci and Beneficial Bio products. We intend to start by simply distributing pre-manufactured products from multiple distribution centers. For example, the Our Sci Reflectometer will be one of our first products, and we intend to send a number of manufactured products to Cameroon for Beneficial Bio to distribute orders in their region. This will allow us to test our Shopify sales channel and mitigate any issues that may arise with shipping and operations.

After this validation, we expect to onboard our first product for distributed manufacturing. We are likely to start small, with some customized, laser-cut pipette holders that Beneficial Bio developed. This process will be a test for our documentation and instructional process within SurveyStack standard operating procedures, QAQC processes, and failure reporting.

Once we have tested these products to verify our sales channels and ensured a standardized manufacturing process, we will begin onboarding more complex OSH for manufacturing and distribution within the network. At this point, we hope to feel confident in a quality label for the cooperative, as well as our legal process for creating developer and manufacturer agreements for all products. Leading up to this process, we will conduct market research with a broader range of manufacturers and developers to make sure we are creating the right market fit.

15. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award? This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.

Prior to 4/1, Beneficial Bio and Our Sci will jointly fund marketing work to create branding assets and a functional website.

The goal of Phase I (April - June) will be to make sure we have retail, legal, and marketing structures that work. We will use a portion of the GOSH funds to continue to pay our marketing team in Cameroon to maintain and update our website with new products. We will also use a portion of Phase I GOSH funds to pay a fraction of the operations lead’s time in order to get all distributed sales channels set up, as well as to start networking and researching our market fit. Finally, we will also seek out legal services to draft all agreements for product, developer, and manufacturer onboarding. Our hope is that these legal fees could be entirely covered by Phase I GOSH funding.

After establishing all of the legal and logistical frameworks for this project, we would use Phase II to Beta test the distributed system.

16. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?

• Establish distributed sales structure
• Continue developing a marketing strategy
• Establish legal frameworks for onboarding new products and partnering with new developers and manufacturers

17. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps?

Goals of Phase II:

Operationalize existing products and partners

• Take 3-5 products and make them work in our system
• Test our distributed sales structure
  • Ship Our Sci Reflectometers to Beneficial Bio
• Test our distributed manufacturing structure with the Beneficial Bio laser cut pipette holders
  • Start with SOPs for all manufacturers to ensure universal quality

Investigate other developers, manufacturers, and consumers, so that we know how to take expansive next steps at the end

• Do a search of general open hardware, Hardware X, etc. to better understand the marketplace for developers, manufacturers, and consumers (active Beta testing)
  • In the distributed documentation and manufacturing working group, we did this pre-work, but we would like to conduct a second round with a stronger sense of reality (we have a website, a team, a structure, the legal setup, etc.)

18. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel, supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses (equipment)

Please note that marketing and operations tasks will continue to be supported by Our Sci and Beneficial Bio, as well as partially supported by the GOSH funding (if awarded).

Cost Category	Details	Estimated Cost in USD	Why it’s needed
Subcontract	Marketing / Branding	$500.00	Continued work to maintain the website and highlight existing or additional products
Subcontract	Operations	$2600.00	One of the largest barriers to getting this collective running is operations. The Phase I award could be instrumental in paying for Nat’s time as they get all operational aspects of the collective implemented
Subcontract	Legal	$1500	We would like to use exclusively GOSH funding to conduct a legal review and develop the legal frameworks needed for onboarding new products, developers, and manufacturers within the Open Science Shop collective

[Glyxon]

Name of applicant(s): David J. Castillo / Waleeha Gudiño (Project leader)
Glyxon Biolabs Mexico City. Mexico.

Email Address: glyxonbiolabs@gmail.com

What track are you applying to?
Established Project Track

Tell us about your project in one or two sentences:

We have successfully built a functional prototype of an automated chromatography machine that simplifies the processing required to obtain isolated recombinant proteins, in addition the automated fraction collector robotic system can be reconfigurable for applications like crops phenotyping and tissue sorting, integrating readily available object recognition cameras and algorithms.

Please describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them:
Chromatography is one of the most ubiquitous techniques in biotechnology used for purifying biomolecules of medical and economic interest. Nevertheless, affordable and accesible automated chromatography systems are limited due to their operational costs and advanced level of technical expertise. Our prototype facilitates the access and the training required for isolating highly added value biomolecules.

These tools have a very powerful and transformative impact on biomarkers, citizen’s science communities, and virtually any given scientist that needs access to bio reagents, e.g. : Restriction enzymes, nucleases, polymerases, antibodies or any other molecular reagents of biological origin. Our system can also help to the determination of phenotypic information from selected crops. There are different scenarios in which a potential user will require expeditious access to any of the bio-reagents or biomaterials mentioned above: 1) Barriers to commercially distributed enzymes, 2) Remote location of the venue where experimental procedures are required, 3) Intrinsic costs and additional fares associated to importation, transportation or distribution of chromatography generated bioreagents.

While the majority of the potential users will be located in urban contexts and will adapt their learned skills and equipment to their specific needs regardless of their social or economic circumstances, some of the de facto advantages of these tools could enable scientists on the field studying complex ecosystem in remote locations, or even facilitate space exploration. Space exploration will definitely require an affordable, portable system to produce and isolated enzymes of industrial importance, medical tests, medicines, plants and food during long haul journeys and while terraforming other planets or recovering ours.

The first goal is to facilitate potential users the acquisition of bioprocessing skills and tools for downstream bioprocessing capabilities.

Enhanced chromatography system: Our robot prototype can be used as an affordable HPLC system and as a tissue sorting system, including plants.

Hands-on instructional videos on bioprocessing: We intend to produce prerecorded workshops that will facilitate the acquisition of a set of skills that any potential user will need during the experimental design and construction of tools associated to bioprocessing. These workshops and the online materials will focus on the fabrication of a automated machine committed to the isolation and purification of biological reagents (chromatography system). In addition, some basic concepts regarding modular cloning (MoClo), and further systems of genetic engineering (golden braid, NGS, etc) will be superficially covered through informative videos, with the intention that the user becomes familiarized with genetic engineering tools commonly implemented in a broad range of models including microorganisms, fungi, plants and animal cells. Although the working models used will be centered in the assembly of the robotic systems and the biochemical techniques used during the purification of recombinant proteins from non-pathogenic domesticated bacterial strains and the isolation and study of genetically modified plants (corn, tomato, coniferous plants) and their plasmids.

Technology transfer repository: The enhanced prototype will be accompanied with prerecorded “workshops” videos and an online repository that will incorporate the basic information and material containing the instructions for building an affordable chromatography system and the biochemical protocols used to purify recombinant proteins and characterize genetically modified plants by using easy to find reagents available at local stores and drugstores.

Remote sensing tools and tissue sorting capabilities:

The robotic fraction collector could be repurposed to act as controlled environmental chamber that could replicate different climates that are impacted by global warming changes (temperature, humidity, variations in sunlight exposure, etc.) acting as both an incubator chamber for plants coupled with a robotic multispectral sensor that would be capable of measuring physiological changes and photosynthesis performance in intact and photosynthetically enhanced, genetically modified plants.

Advantages of our system:

A) Lower costs using additive manufacturing e.g. 3D printing, laser cutting, 			     simplified design, open access distribution.  

B) Creation of a global repository for the access to the system construction 			including blueprints, 3D printed pieces, building instructions etc. 

C) Open access operation software 

D) Open community and volunteers for sharing and simplifying purification and 			isolation protocols using affordable reagents that can be obtained in regular 			stores, drugstores, pantries or OTC (over the counter) 

E) Dedicated, easy to operate graphical interface that simplify the operations 			using a “icon coding” menu  

F) Active forum and repository for sharing isolation protocols, technical advice 			and materials, Prerecorded videos explaining the construction and operation of 			the chromatography system/ sorting robot in different applications and scenarios. 

G) Dedicated affordable PCB board that can me complemented using consumer 			electronics microcontrollers (e.g. Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc.) 

H) DIY Multispectral sensor for measuring  photosynthesis performance 

I) Custom made environmental chamber for assessing plant growth that mimics 			environmentally perturbed ecosystems.

Approximately how many people would be working on your project:
3-9 core members. They also comprise very diverse demographics:

1 Plant Biologist (PhD, Project leader, Female, Latin America)
1 Populations ecologist (PhD, Female, Latin America)
1 Molecular Biophysicist (PhD, Male, Latin America)
1 Molecular Biologist (MSc, Male, Europe)
3 Automation and systems engineers
(Bs & MSc, Male, East Europe and North America)
2 Mechatronics and robotics students
(Bs and MSc, Male, Asia pacific and Latin America)

Describe how your organization will create and manage collaboration with others: We have established a periodical participation at community biotechnology venues where we have presented out results, those include the yearly editions of the MIT Biosummit (from 2020, 2021) and JOGL-The Covid 19 initiative, meetings and online talks. We will continue our presence in those summits and meetings to promote our work. We have an active participation on Slack channels (Glyxon Biolabs) and we plan to reach more user by uploading content to Github; our Glyxon’s website (under remodelation) and You Tube Channel (The Quantum minute). Eventually more formal publications will be considered submission in open access journals like BioArxiv and Make mag. For continuous interactions with the global community we will set up channels over Twitter and Whatsapp for informing about our activities, through flash messages and reels.

Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation, or other identification? If so, how?
Our team is a diverse, multidisciplinary composed of individuals coming from different backgrounds and geographical regions including: East Europe, North America , Asia Pacific and Latin America. At the same time, our collaborators and volunteers are globally represented with the leading participation of women in STEM areas (specialists in Plants biology, Industrial design and Populations genomics). We are actively seeking the incorporation of new other members of biomarkers and scientific communities regardless of their social, economical strata, age, cultural, racial or gender identities.

What resources/infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

Our facilities incorporates a 32m2 biolab with all the essential tools and reagents for bacterial culture manipulation, plants tissue culture and molecular biology and cloning techniques. The current equipment includes, but is not limited to:

2 Laminar flow hoods (class I and class II), incubators for bacterial strains (1), Thermocyclers (2), pipettes and fluid handling (20+), autoclaves (2), freezers, dry baths (2), programmable magnetic hotplates (3), Protein and nucleic acids electrophoresis chambers (4), (1) Realtime quantitative PCRs machine, (1) spectrophotometer, (2) optical microscopes, and multiple reagents and growth media.

Our biomedical personnel are highly skilled, specialty trained professional scientists with international certifications and experience at leading research institutions including The Smithsonian Institute, The Max Planck Institute, Waseda University, Arizona State University, UNAM and ITESO.

We have to our disposal 25m2 fab-lab workshop include (2) fused filament 3D printers, circular saw, handheld drills, heated blowers, jig saws, working benches, oscilloscopes, CNC routers. We also have access to laser cutting services and reliable providers of extruded aluminium material, electronic sensors, and additional materials.

Our automation and systems engineers are highly trained personnel with specialty experience in leading IT companies including Microsoft and consumers banking, customized electronics design, and arts installations.

We also have access to video and audio edition equipment (digital SRL cameras, audio consoles, external microphones, edition software) for the production of prerecorded multimedia content.

What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. Please list what you are going to spend it on and how.

The funds will be used to create 2 main prototypes and a protein expression system

The first prototype will help enhance a readily customized designed robotic fraction collector into an automated phenotyping environmental chamber for studying plants photosynthesis using a 12MP CMOS sensor camera, an atmospheric CO2 sensor, a servo controlled gas mixer (Air / CO2) a gripper arm, and a Infrared/NDVI multi lens sensor. All the sensors, actuators and camera will be connected into a dedicated PCB board (existing) and or additional consumer electronics micro controllers (Arduino, Raspberry Pi). The chamber will incorporare a high precision humidity chamber, thermostat, temperature sensor, humidity controller and programmable, wide wavelength LED illumination strips.

A second prototype will incorporate a optical multispectral sensor coupled to the robotic arm gripper. This sensor is based on the MultispeQ Beta (Kuhlgert et al, 2016) This multispectral sensor will study the photosynthesis performance and growth of a genetically modified tomato we have achieved to generate at our lab, vs existing not modified tomato variants. This tomato strain is capable of doubling it growth when bypassing photorespiration.

Protein expression system:

We have previously achieved to clone and purify recombinant DNA polymerases and a Reverse transcriptase using an opto-genetically controlled plasmid that induction is activated after the exposure to blue light. We believe this system helps to reduce the associated costs of using chemical reagents for recombinant protein induction. A second plasmid will be constructed based on the previously designed to capture recombinant protein using a lower cost silica matrix chromatography column instead of using costly commercial, metal based IMAC. Beside the original DNApol and Reverse transcriptase plasmids, we intend to generate two more enzymes that are required in regular molecular biology techniques.

10.- How will you share the outcomes your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to? Every stage on of the project will be documented on our GitHub website, GOSH website, and Glyxon’s website repository. In addition prerecorded informative videos will be available explaining the assembly instruction and applications of the prototype.

11.-How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?
We have incorporated women with STEM education in leader roles within our organization. In addition the applicability of the project is feasible in remote indigenous communities dedicated to the administration of forestal resources or interested in producing their own bioreagents.

12.- Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare? No conflicts of interest.

13. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.

The current integral solution proposed by our project has multiple applications, the automated chromatography system has a robotic arm that can be quickly reconfigured depending on the module attached. It could work as protein fraction collector; a cells and tissue 3D printer; a culture vessel gripper and sorter; and as a pipetting robot (with universal access, regardless of pipettes manufacturer).

The initial goal is to enable the system by coupling two new capabilities: Multispectral sensors for photosynthesis assessment and a programmable environmental chamber. These additions will enormously expand the capabilities of the system beyond the current applications. There is no affordable, automated, bench size solutions in the market or elsewhere for quickly coupling remote sensor technologies in controlled environmental chamber (EnviroPod) for studying the metabolic/genetic performance of genetically modified plants (or further organisms, including humans or mammalian cells). In plants, these physiological assessments, normally require large experimental greenhouses or open crop fields where multiple of other uncontrolled variables could result in unreliable data. With this system, we are confident of having a stiffer control over the important variables that define the performance of newly designed, genetically modified plants or crops challenged by global warming.

How does Proteopresso/EnrivoPod could help the cultivars of the future in a constantly threatened environment?

The Proteopresso/EnvironPod system will be able to emulate the constantly changing environmental variables resulting from global warming by integrating remote data of areas dealing with drought, desertification or perturbed ecosystems. Temperature, substrate moisture, humidity, atmospheric concentration of CO2, etc., will be reproduced into the EnviroPod using remote data from challenged geographies. This eco-physiological integration could offer a detailed successional dynamics of perturbed ecosystems and their temporal variations could also be mimicked. Given that several crops rely on local microclimate for irrigation, aeration, growth, etc., several traditional cultivars are incapable to quickly adapt pacing the changes derived from global warming. This poses a great challenge to either sustain healthy, productive cultivars and forest capturing atmospheric carbon and water recharge. Genetically modified plants with enhanced photorespiration could have a direct impact on faster growth cultivars and rapid atmospheric CO2 capture rates.

For testing that hypothesis we have designed a genetically modified tomato variety that bypasses photorespiration. We would like to test it to several climate conditions and evaluate its photosynthetic performance. The resulting data will allows us to escalate the photorespiration bypass modification to other species that could bring benefits for fighting climate change by forestation and availability of climate resistant crops. The obtained result of this first assessment/application will pave the road to scale up into large coniferous plants species used in reforestation programs. The resulting photorespiration enhanced trees quite likely endure the present climate changes and could alleviate the atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

How does Proteopresso/EnrivoPod provide solutions to further biomedical applications?

Previously, the Proteopresso system has been capable of producing recombinant protein based bioreagents required for testing of COVID19 though PCR (DNA polymerase, Reverse transcriptase). Nevertheless these bioreagents can be easy used for further clinical and phytosanitary diagnosis, that includes HIV, and plagues affecting plant cultivars. In addition the biosynthesis of these important enzymes will be upgraded using a new genetic chasis (expression plasmid): The same optogenetic control will be implemented but a new silica affinity tag will be used to substitute older traditional His-Tag for protein recovery. Two additional recombinant proteins, frequently used in molecular biology techniques will be generated using the plasmid mentioned above

14. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award? This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.

The development of the EnviroPod and the multispectral sensor module will be completed using the Proteopresso platform (chromatography system) already available. Perhaps the most demanding time will be the waiting time for the providers while ordering additional electronic components. Despite potential delays the module components, the device is expected to be finished within 2-3 moths.

In the case of the new expression system for recombinant proteins. The existing chassis will allow to complete the new plasmids in 3 to 4 weeks after the ordering restriction enzymes and primers. We have access to a local molecular reagent providers and oligo synthesis companies with expeditious services.

In either case, both projects will be completed by July 2022

15. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?

The core system integration press will be a rewarding challenge to complete. The optical recognition system for sorting tissues requires training. A reliable image database will be build from the samples grown on the EnrivoPod.

16. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps?
    Testing on the field with people and organizations interested on testing out our system for the purification of bioreagents and plants phenotyping

17. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel, supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses (equipment).

Blockquote
PERSONNEL: ITEM ESTIMATED COST USD WHY IT’S NEEDED?
Consultants $500 USD Provide feedback on technical feasibility
SUPPLIES: 3D printing materials $200 USD pieces produced by additive manufacture
Electronic components $600 USD Multiespectral sensors requiere electrooptical components
Molecular biology reagents DpNI restriction enzyme $100 USD For subcloning other molecular biology enzymes into new plasmid
Reagents $50 USD Cell lysis
Miniprep kits $50 USD Purification of DNA
Oligo synthesis $300 USD Gene amplification and cloning
SUBCONTRACTS Laser cutting / micro machining $200USD Prototyping Environmetal chamber
TRAVEL Air/land fares $600 USD Transportation of students
OTHER EXPENSES: Parcel, shipping importation fees $400 USD importation of electronic components

[adrianMolecule]

1. Name of applicant(s)

Adrian Filips

2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)

adrian.filip@canada.ca

3. What track are you applying to? (select one):

Established Project Track
4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences

The project is about freeing molecular biology researchers and potentially health providers worldwide from most logistic and financial burdens related to acquiring organic reagents and other resources like antibodies etc. The OScH tool to achieve this is an advanced cell type bioreactor - a chamber where cells are grown under very specific conditions so they can produce reagents, antibodies, vaccines etc. We have already achieved concrete, palpable results both in terms of producing hardware and new genetically engineered organisms.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them

Democratize, increase, speed up and in many cases make possible biology and health research in the world by providing an accessible, affordable versatile OScH tool capable of producing a variety of resources vital for biology and health research.
Make research accessible for people that are part of disadvantaged communities due to discrimination or financial barriers.
Empower people to fulfill their own needs in research, science and health by giving them the tool to create necessary resources.
Molecular biology research requires devices and reagents that make an important part of the costs
Complete a reusable bioreactor suitable for advanced cell production including mammalian cells
Produce an OScH device capable of producing affordable, quality, reproducible reagents as a turn key solution
Produce a series of genetically designed organisms and device embedded software protocols that would make possible a la carte grow of specific reagents like for instance virus detection kits reagents.
Identify other targets like antibodies and drug delivery systems that can be obtained using the bioreactor
Target to build and field install ideally several complete devices in research labs or health facilities during both phases of the project
Enhance the monitoring capabilities of the device
Install, and train researchers in several labs in specific regions of the world where science is not accessible
Perform multiple types of testing, calibration and characterization of the system
Establish a quality control including creation of traceable audit materials
Creating technical documentation
Publicize the system and inform interested scientists to create a community around the world, similar to other successful project like OpenFlexure
Formed a strong inter-disciplinary team capable of delivering more OscH projects

We employ a nimble agile approach based on several differentiating practices to produce a good quality yet inexpensive OScH:
• We moved the interaction interface to computing devices instead of placing displays, keyboards etc on the device itself. That reduces the complexity and cost while increasing performance and upgradeability
• We created a truly fully reusable device by ensuring all the parts are autoclaveable
• We provided alternatives for using tooling that are under 300$ US which will allow building it in places where more expensive tools (like for instance a laser cutter) is not affordable. We would however provide options for the fortunate that have access to those resources
• We used inexpensive, available electronics on our custom PCB boards
• We created a turn key complete solution so users don’t have to find or create specialized organisms for common products. That is very important due to the cost and availability.

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

The core group will be comprised of 6 people and about 20 or so less involved volunteers, collaborators, helpers and consultants. Many if not most of these resources are experts in their fields and many worked on similar projects in the past and have the necessary experience to bring success to the project. We also have several young brilliant student resources working on the project so the demographics are encompassing

7. Describe how your organization will create and manage collaboration with others.

The development will continue to be performed in a cooperative interdisciplinary team distributed on several continents. We will be using the JOGL platform for most communication and advertising tasks. We are already in contact or know of places and scientists that expressed interest in using our OScH and we want to time that in such a way that we can manage expectations. We will be co-opting further volunteers from groups that are organized by our core members like https://www.meetup.com/biotown/ and Ottawa Bio Science and also use the existing channels like Global Community Biosummit, JOGL etc.
We do in-person gatherings when possible and necessary and we will be present at a Maker Festival soon to be happening. When pandemic hinders direct contact we connect on-line by JTSI or Zomm for meetings, presentations, workshops, demonstrations, hackatons etc

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?

We do have current members belonging to visible minorities and living in socioeconomic disadvantaged countries. While we are not requesting specific information from our members, our vision goals and activities promote engaging and creating opportunities for economically marginalized, minorities like immigrants and non binary members of the community that have been historically underrepresented. One of our primary goals is to make available our creations in third world countries and poor or marginalized communities where lab research and health is not available or not possible due to prohibitive costs practiced by bio-pharma industry. That way we hope to impact the cycle of poverty marginalization and exclusion and violation of universal human rights. We center our approach on accessibility, diversity, equality and inclusion

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

Many of our current core collaborators have the professional skills needed for the project and many of them have maker resources and well equipped workshops including two molecular biology labs. We have full access 24x7 to these resources.
The electronic workshops include current capabilities for population of PCB using both through-hole and surface mounted technologies and we used both for the current prototype boards.
Besides regular mechanical equipment, we have access to laser cutting services and exclusive access to 3d printers, 4 CNC machines, a plasma cutter and a metal lathe.
The full access molecular biology labs are equipped with several PCR machines, centrifuges, orbital shakers, transilluminators, autoclave, electrophoresis apparatus for DNA and vertical gel boxes for proteins, vortex, multiple reagents, consumables and other smaller items.
We want to stress that these resources are dedicated for supporting this project therefore fully available.

   Most of our volunteers have University degrees and many years of experience with world leading organizations. Many of them successfully collaborated on makers projects. 

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

Raw materials for cases and chambers and tubing etc
Electronic components
Mechanical parts like motors, pumps
Lab reagents and consumables
Additional test equipment
Travel funds for communication purposes
Shipping and packing costs
Consulting with experts to review, validate our decisions and help with very specific issues
A breakdown will be presented as part of question 18.

Please note that substantial funds have already been personally contributed by the volunteers already to reach this stage.

11. How will you share the outcomes your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)

We intend to use a multiple method approach or different target audiences:
For makers that have the skills to make things we will publish all the information needed to building the OScH
For biology and health researchers that do not have the skills to execute the builds we will be looking at alternatives like producing or finding producers for kits or even pre- assembled systems
We will create an assembly video.
We intend to use existing gitHub, Google Docs and Slack hosted documentation and develop new documentation using GitBuilding - a software for documenting hardware. We will continue to document software according to specific software documentation standards like JavaDocs or instance. We will use established Unit Testing frameworks like Junit for instance.

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?
   The very essence of the project is to create a system that will end exclusion for biology and health researchers around the world. They currently cannot afford to perform the research.
   This is a meaningful, multi disciplinary, accessible project that include participation of marginalized populations. We are promoting and actively seeking the incorporation of new other members regardless of their social, economical strata, age, racial or gender identities.

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

None

14. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.

This is not a new project or just a general interesting idea to be implemented. We have already produced concrete, available, demo ready implementations both in the hardware, software and genetic engineering field. We need to complete the steps necessary to harden the system to industry standards. That means enhance, test, calibrate and document so it can really be a reliable and successful tool in the hands of the users. We don’t want to release a half baked product that will disappoint the users. As with any early version systems we have list of improvements to make the current system more robust. We want to improve the mechanical design so the system is quieter and could resist falls and accidental impacts. We want to run endurance tests and address the findings with corrections and enhancements. We want to enhance the current software web interface using WebSockes for real-time update graphs and improve on remote control capabilities. We want to add a real time optical density reader via a low cell. Both the optical density reader and flow cell of these have already been designed, built and unit tested separately but we need to incorporate them in the system.
We want to test a different type of motors with incorporated reduction gear that can deliver a much higher torque.
We want to make custom silicon lids and improve the attachment system.
We want to engineer and produce three new organisms to make possible an additional less expensive purification strategy. We need to perform a series of runs to quantify quality o the products, tune the protocols and include them as a la carte protocols in the software. We want to add a DO (Dissolved Oxygen reader) feature necessary for some types of mammalian cells. We already designed, fabricated and populated a custom PCB for this yet we need to fabricate and test the probe and integrate it in the system.
Design new immuno based product tests
Attempt to add a visual programming drag and drop interface or custom protocol creation similar to mBlock etc.

15. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award? This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.

1 April to 1 March
Mechanical designs for attaching the high torque motors
Design the new plasmids and acquire the reagents for genetic engineering
Design the probe for Oxygen sensor
Design subsequent versions and order new PCB
Design the molds for silicone
Research into options for ESP32 embedded visual programming
Find out what additional candidate labs would be interested to install and test the device in the field. Initiate contact.
Add firmware improvements including WebSockets and WiFi capability hardening

   1 March to 1 April
Build the probe for Oxygen sensor and perform unit tests
Poor, test and iterate through versions of the custom silicone lid
Populate new version additional PCBs and install firmware
Install OD meter and flow cell
Cut and mechanical assembly of several prototypes with the high torque motors
Acquire additional resources for genetic engineering
Establish and strengthen collaboration with candidate labs and initiate plans for the 	deployment and field testing of the device

1 April to 1 March
Genetic engineering for an additional construct to support silica binding
Test the new construct
Test the silicone lid with an inexpensive commercial container as a specialized alternative to off the shelf silicone bags
Fully integrate the dissolved oxygen monitoring
Order the necessary materials to support silica based extraction
Update the software to read and display the Dissolved Oxygen
Create and start implementing communication plans for presentation of the device

1 March to 1 April
Add a version of custom building of new protocols either using JSON files or - if possible, using visual programming
Genetic engineering for two additional constructs
Restructure documentation
Start calibration
Test silica based extraction
Start integration testing phase
Close communication and scheduled periodic meetings with candidate labs

1 April to 1 May
Start presenting the new device to external gatherings like conferences
Scheduled meetings with candidate labs on deployment and field testing of the device
Complete most of the calibration
Document the calibration
Create formal presentations
Perform integration testing phase
Perform endurance testing
Perform reliability testing
Document the findings
Make sure the procedure does not generate waste and test that all components are fully reusable
Multiple iterations of improving the device
Start implementing plans for the deployment and field testing of the device
Enroll and inform more early adopters and community

1 May to 1 June
Presenting the enhanced device to external gatherings
Multiple iterations of improving the device
Iterative tests of the products
Write and install in the firmware protocols for the new constructs
Start implementing plans for the deployment and field testing of the device
Start sending prototypes to field collaboration and getting early feedback
Start training field collaborators
Start testing the produced products in specific applications like LAMP for instance
Close communication with candidate labs and start deployment of the device

1 June to 5 July
Complete documentation
Continue training of new field collaborators
Deployment in the field labs
Support field researches
Continue to present the enhanced device to external gatherings
Multiple iterations of improving the device
Redeploy patches where necessary
Field test will result in supplementary findings in all the aspects of the device
Perform enhancements and modifications as a result of field test
Presenting the enhanced device to external gatherings and start co-opting new field labs and collaborators
Detailed plans for further enhancements

16. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?

Produce a working bioreactor with motion, temperature, optical density monitoring
Perform multiple types of testing, calibration and characterization of the system
Add three more essential constructs

17. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps?

Add CO2 control to the environment
Test with advanced types of cells
Add production of antibodies
Add production of drug delivery systems
Investigate and design production of CAR T Cell therapy components using the device
Design and run immuno based product tests
Create manufacture ready prototypes for kits
Research production of fully assembled devices
Add several more essential enzyme products to the existing list of three products by using off-patent enzymes from FreeGenes foundation

18. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories:

Supplies
2200, Needed or building the devices and the new components
Electronic components and PCB assembly
Mechanical parts
Raw materials
Reagents
Lab consumables
Other consumables

Subcontracts
600, Review, validate and suggest changes. Expert Consultants

Travel
600, Travel for the volunteers and shipping costs, Travel for the volunteers.
Shipping costs

Other expenses (equipment etc)
500, Needed for testing, calibration, etc
QA testing equipment, Instrumentation, etc

[thomasmboa]

1. Name of applicant(s)

• Mboalab – Represented by Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou
• CAMDIAGNOSTIC – Represented by Rodrigue Foe ESSOMBA

2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)
thomasmboa@gmail.com

3. What track are you applying to?
Established Project Track

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences
Our project aims to develop a Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of Enzyme made in Cameroon.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them
Mboalab is an established community biology lab for producing low-cost manufacturing of enzymes and scientific equipment alongside educational programmes for biotechnology. We directly addresses the accessibility of reagents in low-resourced contexts by implementing a toolkit for local manufacture of polymerase enzymes in Cameroon that are essential workhorses of molecular biology and can support Cameroonian research and education in biotechnology.
Nowadays, the enzymes produced at Mboalab are ISO 9001 certified; therefore, we offer high quality products at lower cost. Aware of the advantages that our products offer, we wish to have the governmental support, through an agreement with the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation of Cameroon (MINRESI); in order to reinforce our presence on the national and sub-regional market (Central Africa).

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

03 people

• One Full time worker during the project
• Thomas and Rodrigue will work 20% of their time

7. Describe how your organisation will create and manage collaboration with others.
Since the beginning of its local production of enzymes in 2019, Mboalab has initiated exchanges with CAMDIAGNOSTIC; a governmental institution in charge of strengthening the health systems of Cameroon by developing affordable Heath technologies and diagnostics, with the aim to cut off the chain of supply that make Cameroon depend more on foreign manufacturing organisation.
Our constant exchanges with CAMDIAGNOSTIC have led us to meet recently with senior officials of the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation (MINRESI) who advised us to support them in setting up a platform for exchange with the Cameroonian government, around the local production of enzymes.
Beyond Mboalab, CAMDIAGNOSTIC and MINRESI, this platform would also involve

• The Ministry of Health
• The Ministry of Higher Education
• The Ministry of Commerce
• The Agency of Standards and Quality of Cameroon (ANOR)

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?
No, our project deals with local governemental institutions.

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?
To support our project, we can count on:

• our experience to convene local stakeholders and lead such discussions;
• our facilities for conferences (conference room, library…) ;
• our technical infrastructures (makerspaces, biology lab….) ;
• The Mboalab is a production node of Beneficial bio

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.
The funds will be used:

• to organize a series of consultations with the different actors mentioned in question 7 ;
• for documentation
• to produce the report consolidating the analysis of the exchanges
• for the preparation of the general meeting during which all the actors involved in the consultation process will discuss the report and the regulatory framework that will regulate the market for locally produced enzymes.

Not sure how this question is related to questions 15 & 18

11. How will you share the outcomes your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)
Beyond traditional outputs (video, photo, etc.); our main deliverables are around documentation:

• The guide for conducting participatory consultations with local governmental actors. So that, this guide can be reused and applied in a different context or country.
• The report presenting the analysis of the exchanges
  All this documentation will be released under the following Creative Commons Licence CC-BY 4.0.

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?
First of all, we would like to highlight that our consultation procedures will be inspired by two strategic documents written by GOSH:

• The GOSH Roadmap
• Open Hardware is ready to help Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) maximise the impact of academic research

Secondly, It is true that we cannot impose to the governmental institutions who must take to the discussions; but we will communicate to them the goodness of taking into account the gender balance.

Finally, for this project we have a full-time position. Only a woman will be hired in this position, since Thomas and Rodrigue are already men.

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

No,
Maybe indirectly, since we are a production node of Beneficial Bio, I am not really sure whether or not, Dr Jenny Molloy is involved in the review process of this grant.

14. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.

• In collaboration with CAMDIAGNOSTIC, design the guide to run the participatory consultation on the “Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of of Enzyme made in Cameroon”.
• Hold a meeting with the Ministry of Health
• Document the framework and improve the guide
• Hold a meeting with the Ministry of Higher education
• Document the framework and improve the guide
• Hold a meeting the Ministry of Commerce
• Document the framework and improve the guide
• Hold a meeting with the Agency of Standards and Quality of Cameroon (ANOR)
• Document the framework and improve the guide
• Hold a meeting with the Ministry of Scientific Research
• Send to stakeholders, the first draft of the “Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of Enzyme made in Cameroon”.

15. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award? This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.

16. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?

• The guide for conducting participatory consultations with local governmental actors.
• First draft of the “Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of Enzyme made in Cameroon”.

17. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps
If Phase I is successfully completed, the next step is to organise a general meeting during which all the actors involved in the consultation process will discuss and endorse the first draft of the “Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of Enzyme made in Cameroon”.

18. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel, supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses (equipment).

@mariafrangos and the review team… I am aware that we are late in applying. This is due to power outage and internet interruption we are facing here, since yesterday. Thanks for your understanding.

[jeremycahill]

1. Name of applicant(s)

The Friendzymes Contributors

• Jeremy Cahill, USA
• Isaac Larkin, USA
• Sarah Ware, USA
• Isaac Nuñez – FluoPi, Chile
• Scott Pownall, Canada
• Homer Sajonia II, Philippines
• Jacob Segarra, USA

Friendzymes Advisor

• Sebastian Eggert – OpenWorkstation, Germany

2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)

friendzymes@gmail.com

3. What track are you applying to? (select one):

• Established Project Track

4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences

Friendzymes’ goal for this project is to create a low cost open automated colony picking robot to facilitate molecular cloning of assembled DNA parts from Freegenes, iGEM, and other open wetware sources as well as for colony screening of strains for desired assemblies and behavior. This device can also be used in a wide variety of settings and purposes from isolating microbes through environmental sampling to screening of organisms for antibiotic activities.

5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them

Friendzymes’ mission is to democratize and globally distribute the means of biotechnological production. The goal of this project is to design and build a low cost cartesian-based open automated colony picking robot using the Raspberry Pi and associated camera system.

The first functional stage of the system will photograph microbial (bacteria and yeast) colonies on agar plates of differing form factors. Options will include light field and blue light fluorescent colony identification. Software and metric calibrant labware will identify the coordinates of isolated colonies from the images which could afterwards be selected manually or automatically for picking.

The second functional stage will employ a newly-developed picking head to pick isolated colonies using the information of imaged agar plates and transfer them to either another agar plate or 96-well deep dish or cluster culture tubes for growth. The system will be extensible by permitting a wide variety of transfer destination options and sterilization modalities.

6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?

For our phase I, the core design team is made up of six researchers from the Philippines, US, Canada and Chile. The team has complementary expertise in software development, hardware design, and molecular biology. Other Friendzymes team members around the world are interested in collaborating.

7. Describe how your organization will create and manage collaboration with others.

Friendzymes operated as a gold medal winning unique team during the 2021 iGEM.org competition with team members from 9 countries and four wetlabs located in Ghana, the Philippines, the US and Canada. This allowed us to create a foundation for global communication. Our team hosted a weekend hackathon with participants from around the world including Indonesia. We had team members supporting the hackathon in most time zones. Friendzymes main tool for communication is via our Discord channel but we also are on JOGL’s Slack channel. Friendzymes also has its own public Github account where all details will be disseminated from. Friendzymes continues as a multi-focal project, with individual team members continuing to organize regularly scheduled team calls and thematic development sessions. This colony picker project will proceed in the same fashion.

8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?

We applicants have diversity in nationality, culture, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic class, and include multiple members in low/middle-income countries.

9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?

Friendzymes has nonprofit status and a bank account through fiscal sponsorship by GOSH.

BioBlaze community lab is based in the Chicagoland area, and has direct access to lab equipment including an Opentrons OT-2 liquid handling robot, a MinION DNA sequencer, a thermal cycler, an orbital shaker, an incubator, and a centrifuge. BioBlaze is also nearby and can access laser cutting and FDM 3D printing services from third parties in the Chicagoland area.

The Philippines location is equipped with an electronics lab and 3D FDM printers. Local access to extra production capacity in machine shops for metalwork and public makerspaces such as FabLab Davao for 3D printing is also available.

Open Science Network’s community lab is BC (Canada)-incorporated non-profit society and is located at MakerLabs.com, western Canada’s premier makerspace. This gives us access to a wide range of maker tools including a full spectrum Laser cutter, 3D FDM printer, Tormach PCNC 1100 CNC Mill, metal laser cutter, metal lathe and electronics lab. The OSN community lab itself has a fully functioning wetlab that includes an Opentrons OT-2 with GEN2 P20 and P300 pipettes and consumables, Opentrons heat block and magnetic block modules, bacterial incubators including orbital shaker, thermocyclers and qPCR machines, a variety of centrifuges, pipettes and tips, protein & nucleic acids gel electrophoresis tanks and power supplies, sonicator, autoclave, -80 and -20 freezers and refrigerators, water & dry baths, magnetic hotplates, uv/vis spectrophotometer, ELISA Reader, a variety of optical microscopes, ductless chemical hood and laminar flow hoods.

10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.

For phase 1, funds will be used to purchase (and, as needed, internationally ship) the components require to construct, and modify as needed, open-source FluoPi fluorescence and epi-illumination imaging systems, including both raw materials and laser cutting & 3D-printing services; as well as to prototype and develop physical metric calibrants with the footprint of a standard microplate. Additional funds will be used to purchase lab reagents and plasticware, required for growing and plating E. coli cells to serve as test beds for colony imaging and picking. Finally, funds will be used to prototype subcomponents of a dedicated colony picking robot, including modules for sterilizing, cutting and/or washing a plastic filament or metal rod that does the picking.

11. How will you share the outcomes of your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole?
(videos? photos? a how-to?)

Friendzymes has its own public Github account and repository has been created to document the progress as well as the final project files which can comprise of but will not be limited to:

• Final BOM
• Technical Drawings
• Behavior Documentation
• Firmware source code
• PAML Specialization Class
• Part STL Files
• Step by step assembly guide

This is to ensure that remote partner labs and other public shareholders are able to implement and adapt the resulting project.

12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?

This project was created to address the lack of frugal yet full-featured options in the colony picking space. Few dedicated colony picking instruments currently exist. Those few that exist are costly, priced above 20000 USD even on the resale market.¹

The lack of these options restricts the possibilities of labs in lower to medium income countries with regards to high throughput colony picking. In addition, turn around times for equipment maintenance and repair are often issues with equipment that are imported with technical support usually based in overseas countries. Having a frugal, locally built picker solves this problem since this equipment can be maintained and repaired by local or even in-house repair crews.

This equipment would also benefit community labs where person-hours and resources are limited. A colony picker can handle multiple plates in a session, saving time for the users who have to share space and equipment. Having these machines in the labs also allows greater freedom for remote teams in other locations, allowing them to perform high throughput colony picking, screening and downstream assays alongside their other research tasks. Because they enable randomly arranged colonies to be programmatically and traceably ordered into a format amenable to high-throughput and automated processing, colony pickers also fit well into the workflow of an integrated frugal biofoundry of the type Friendzymes aims to build and validate, which will enable low-cost, high-capacity biological design-build-test cycles and strain engineering. Such frugal biofoundries will greatly lower the barriers to developing biotechnological productive capacity for resource-constrained people, teams, communities and countries.

¹ Examples of preexisting commercial solutions include: RapidPick™ Series (Hudson Robotics Inc), Pix Series (Molecular Devices LLC), PetriPlater Series (Tecan AG), Pickolo™ addon for Tecan robots (SciRobotics Ltd.), ROTOR + PIXL (Singer Instruments).

13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?

None.

14. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.

For the first phase, an imaging module with a picker prototype is put together to image a plate. The imaging module will be based on a raspberry pi microcomputer and camera together with illumination modules (white light or blue light). We will leverage the OpenCFU software package to identify the colony positions in the plate image relative to a coordinate system, and the OT2_MoClo_JoVE GitHub repo to generate colony coordinates that can be translated to a colony picking protocol on the Opentrons OT-2. This module will be evaluated and tested according to its capability of automatic colony location identification in the captured images. Once this setup is fully tested and shown to be viable, the imaging module design is finalized as a standalone module and a prototype gantry test rig is then developed to evaluate and correct the accuracy and precision of the resultant coordinates.

Colony picking with a pipetting robot like the OT-2 is sub-optimal, because of the relatively high cost and plastic waste generated by picking each individual colony with a different pipette tip. Thus, while building plate imagers, imaging plates and demonstrating/validating colony picking with the OpenTrons OT-2, we will simultaneously continue our work to design a dedicated open source colony picking robot, based on the OpenWorkStation framework, that uses either sterilizable, plastic filament that is cut between colony picks, or a thin extendable metal rod that is washed and sterilized between colony picks. By the end of the first phase, we will have design plans for prototyping this instrument.

For the second phase, we will build and test prototypes of the dedicated colony picking robot. We will aim to adapt and modify the FluoPi into an OpenWorkstation module that can interface directly with the colony picking module and with a plate transfer module for moving plates directly from the imager to the colony picker, creating a hands-free, single-set-up system that images, picks colonies and transfers them to specified output plate formats.The picking machine will be evaluated and tested according to its capability to pick the proper coordinates informed by the imaging module, which will involve proper calibration protocols. Finally, the machine will be tested with different kinds of colonies and setups.

15. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award? This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.

This project is amenable to splitting into discrete sub-components that can be worked on in the different locations and then assembled for final testing. Most of the structural fabrication assembly will be done in the primary locations with concurrent integration effort being done by partner labs. When given the go-ahead, the contributors will decide on a timeline based on GOSH regulations and the contributors’ own capacity. After that, progress reports are to be done every week with progress to be documented in the Github repository. Supply and production issues are also documented using Github’s issue tracker.

Work shall be mainly split between the Boston, Chicago, British Columbia, and the Philippine working sites. The Boston and Philippine locations will be working on the initial hardware design and assembly. The Chicago and BC sites will then validate the colony identification workflow based on the imaging module. Once the workflow is validated, the Boston and Philippine sites shall benchmark the colony identification workflow on the assembled hardware, with emphasis taken on the precision and accuracy of the picker in relation to the generated coordinates. The hardware is then modified accordingly to bring the assembly up to an acceptable precision.

16. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?

By the end of the first funding phase, (1) the imaging module will be able to determine the viability of a plate for colony picking and the local coordinates of the isolated colonies in cartesian coordinates relative to a specified corner/edge location of the plate the colonies are on; and (2) OpenTrons OT-2 protocols will be demonstrated that translate these coordinates into a program to pick the specified colonies and transfer them to a specified set of output plates, generating plate maps recording identities and plate well / coordinate locations for each cloned colony on each output plate. Finally, (3) the design plan for prototyping the dedicated colony picking instrument will be finalized, including construction of at least one proof of concept of the sterilizer module and an OpenWorkStation gantry for later integration into the larger structure.

17. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps?

Upon successful completion of Phase I, the development team will proceed with final design of, followed by complete build-out of the assembly line system, including picking and sterilizing modules, transport module, cartesian-style gantry enclosure, and all other structural and electromechanical components. For budgeting breakdown after Phase I’s completion, please see 18.

18. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel, supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses.

Here are the allowable direct costs for this project with expanded details below. No travel or subcontracts are envisioned.

Cost	Estimated Cost
Personnel	915.00
Supplies	3,500.00
Total	4,515.00
*see expanded table for additional details

Personnel Estimates

Module	Stage	Associated Activities	Estimated Labor Hours (blocking)	Estimated Labor Costs
Phase 1
Hardware - Structural	Design	Fitting of image module to openWorkstation footprint, Generation of final extrusion cut lengths, compilation of documentation	9	135.00
Hardware - Structural	Build	Printing/Cutting of structural Components, Assembly of Unit	2	30.00
Hardware - Structural	Test	Mechanical and load testing of assembly	5	75.00
Hardware - Electronics	Design	Generation of necessary gerber files, PCB rerouting(as needed)	10	150.00
Hardware - Electronics	Build	Assembly of parts, Hand soldering or small scale manufacture (i.e JLPCB) as needed.	1.5	22.5
Hardware - Electronics	Test	Continuity and PCB checks, Tolerance checks	7.5	112.5
Software	Design	Prototyping of PAML Specialization, Prototyping kinematics translation layer, GCODE compliance tests	9	135.00
Software	Build	Configuration, Build and Compile time	1	15.00
Software	Test	GCODE compliance checks, Script generation checks, Kinematics tests	10	150.00
		Subtotal	55	825.00
		Allowable Time Overruns	6	90.00
		Total	61	915.00

Supply Estimates

Item	Estimated Cost
Structural Fasteners and Hardware	120.00
3D Printed Parts	300.00
Acrylic Plates	830.00
RPi and associated attachments	700.00
Discrete Electronics/ PCB manufacturing and Components	450.00
Prototype - Gantry System	500.00
Prototype - Sterilizer	200.00
Prototype - Picker head	300.00
Miscellaneous	200.00
Total	3,500.00