Hi GOSHers, my team and i are currently building a DIY sterile hood and are faced with a challenge that require us to include a HEPA filer, etc. Could you share with us possible designs that will optimal sterility within our hood.
Here are some designs/resources we already found:
London Biohackspace DIY Laminar Flow Cabinet (also has some useful links and discussion in the comments)
https://biohackspace.org/2014/07/building-a-diy-flow-hood/
https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Project:Flow_Hood
This site has a lot of info on specifications for HEPA filters and fans
http://www.fungifun.org/English/Flowhood
Generally, there are a lot of designs online from mycologists and fungi enthusiasts.
The Waag Lab have one that looks professional but is “open source” in the sense you have to email the person for the design and it doesn’t have any information on testing.
https://veit-penzenstadler.de/inceptos-amet-elit-vulputate-lorem/
All designs are for simple laminar flow cabinets that bring air in through a HEPA filter and blow it out of the front to avoid non-filtered air entering the cabinet and contaminating samples. I haven’t found any for microbiological safety cabinets that protect the user and the samples, likely because they are a lot harder to design and operate safely but would be interested if there are any and how the developers are thinking about calibration and biosafety.
The primary design goal for the cabinet @Hail_Harry mentions is to avoid contamination of samples by environmental microbes.
Jenny
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