The aim of the open source system is to provide controlled perfusion capabilities into established cell-biology workflows and equipment. Specifically, it was developed for use inside cell culture incubators commonly used in life sciences and related fields.
The New Harvest in-incubator perfusion system is licensed under open-source licenses. The hardware including documentation is licensed under CERN OHL v.1.2. license. Firmware and software originating from the project are licensed under GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE v3. Open data and additional documentation are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License.
Open-source licensing means the hardware, firmware, software and documentation may be used without paying a royalty, and knowing one will be able to use their version forever. One is also free to make changes, but if one shares these changes, they have to do so under the same conditions they are using themselves.
For those unfamiliar with Github, a high level description is available below. For further assistance, please contact <EMAIL>.
Mechanics
The mechanical part of the in-incubator perfusion system is composed of an aluminium tray, that holds up to 3 P6-well plate-sized sample (e.g. 3D cell culture) containers, a pump drive (stepper motor) and a peristaltic pump head. The pump drive is connected to a driver and power supply via a 4-pin charger cable.
- Build Material: Aluminium
- Charging: LRS-150-48, 48V/150W power supply
- Pump: Peristaltic pump, with Ismatec(R) pump head
- Flow: 0.1 - 100ml/min ± 0.02ml/min
- Tubing: With 2-4mm outer diameter suitable for cell culture applications (e.g., platinum cured silicone, tygon, Pharmed BPT(R))
- Tubing connections: Luer-lock (polypropylene)
- Dead volume: Depending on assembly
- Monitoring/control:Graphical user interface (via touch screen or wifi)
- Control parameters: flow rate (continuous or dynamic), direction
Electronics
The perfusion system control box is placed outside the incubator to provide power supply and control over the pump drive, and a GUI that allows direct access via touch-screen and WiFi connection.
- Computer system: Raspberry Pi 4 with Raspberry Pi OS and Raspberry Pi touch display
- Motor driver: PoLabs PoStep60-256
- Power supply: RS-15-5, 5V/15W power supply
- Housing: 1458G5 metal casing, customized PMMA sheets
- Connectivity: WiFi, USB (data logging), IEC socket (power supply), 4-pin socket (motor control)
