Instructions have full assembly details including custom 3D files and details of sources for off-the-shelf components. Also details of background trials at marchantia.org

Also I've pulled together details of the low-cost LED lighting systems that have been integrated into the three different self-contained grow-pods. Might be useful for other plant and algal growing systems. Can be found at Marchantia.org

Marchantia plants grown on a large Super-NFT grow-pod using micro-perforated plastic film to supress algal growth, while rhizoids penetrate the support membrane and feed off nutrients flowing below. Grow healthily for months on a tabletop for spore production (marchantia.org)

There are three different size systems (mini, midi, super) to cope with different scales, up to about a kilogram of fresh weight of liverwort per tray for the super size. Can take plants through the entire life cycle - great for plant spore production.

I finished the next batch of instructions for DIY construction of 'grow-pods' for simple and improved hydroponic cultivation of Marchantia liverwort plants - needing to adjust for their lack root systems, so using specialised trays and membranes for fast growth (marchantia.org)

Glad to see Anna's final PhD paper as a pre-print. Marchantia as a bioproduction chassis not only for markers but also for useful proteins. #PlantScience #SynBio www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Happy to share some of the auxin Marchantia research we've been working on for a while with @fromani.bsky.social and @jimhaseloff.bsky.social. We confirm long standing suspicions that stem cells in Marchantia exist in an auxin concentration/signalling minimum, and potentially a cytokinin maximum.

Instructions for building the latest Mini-NFT hydroponics system for Marchantia. USB powered pod with self-contained media circulation and LED lighting. Based on GN1/6 kitchen vessel. Larger scale DIY hydroponic systems on the way. https://marchantia.org/mini-nft-hydroponics

Here's a comparison of techniques for table-top propagation of the liverwort Marchantia - best model plant for engineering!Trying to properly collate tha last few years of development trials in Cambridge. Adding DIY instructions. https://marchantia.org/technique

Long barrels work for increasing the penetrative power of my low-cost low-pressure particle inflow device (for chloroplast transformation) - effect of 1.5" dispensing nozzle (7p each) on delivery of tungsten through target (20µm thick Silver Rizla paper) with 60psi Sodastream CO2

Our exemplar system cost less than 40 k€ and can be assembled in less than a day. We have provided open-source hardware and software at www.ctdvopm.org, along with an interactive CAD render and full parts list.

A 3D printed tray works to support the 12.7mm stainless steel grids in the air stream, and keep them ordered. Can be used to dry gel films and/or microparticle slurrys.

Converted an off-the-shelf hearing aid drying box (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B097C2VHV7) to a cheap device for drying grids for particle inflow biolistics. The drying box has gentle gentle heated air flow (37º) and timer built in. Surrogate prep station...

An advantage of the Luer connected microparticle holders is that different gauge and different length nozzles are available off the shelf - to modify the holder exit channel if necessary. A number of studies highlight the critical role of nozzle design for particle delivery...

Holders for the DIY particle inflow gun are cheap (40p each for each 13mm filter holder, and 10p for a 12.7mm stainless steel mesh - for lining smoking pipe bowls! Aliexpress). Holders have Luer slip connections - if anyone spots cheap Luer Lok versions, I'd be very interested!

Might be worth casting films on the mesh? Trying dry-cast plasticised gum films, which has been well described for food storage and gum bichromate printing, and ingredients cheap and available for kitchen use.

A tungsten microparticle slurry can be directly applied to the mesh and dried before shooting - showing delivery onto a 20µm paper target (piece of Silver grade Rizla cigarette paper) - but would a thin support film improve the mesh performance?

Business end of a low cost DIY gene gun - powered by a sodastream CO2 canister with minipump-driven vacuum shroud. Microparticle load is contained in a 13mm filter holder on a stainless steel mesh - like John Finer's particle inflow design. Looking at efficiency improvements...

If you're like me, and looking for a (cheap) laminar flowhood that can be used at home for handling sterile cultures - check out https://funguyequipment.com/collections/flow-hood. Fairly lightweight (thin acrylic and 3D printed panels), but is portable and easily packed away.

It was very quick and painless to build/customise a touch controller for my prototype SodaStream-powered gene gun - based on an M5Stack Core3SE and UIFlow2. The transformation part is still at testing stage, but looks promising. (Required for chloroplast transformation in Marchantia, using spores)

As part of the trials, I started using M5Stack UIFlow2 development software - with dual Blockly and Micropython coding and excellent hardware support - and built-in no-code LVGL support for designing and programming touchscreens on the fly. I'm a convert!

Matt Wayland and I have been looking for a simple coding enviroment to replace XOD for programming MCU instruments in Biomaker. ESP-Claw (https://esp-claw.com/en/) uses prompt-based coding - magic when it works, but still early in the cycle. The M5Stack Core3 hardware works well with it...

For liverwort mavens, I've needed to shift our Marchantia resources to a new website (I've reached retirement from academia in Cambridge) - and the plant synthetic biology stuff has moved to https://www.haseloff-lab.info (Now have more time for DIY builds! Updates to come)

Recipe for PPM (Plant Preservative Mixture) from the patent WO 1996/038542. Simplifies sterile plant tissue culture - especially if you don't have access to a research-grade facility. Great invention from Assaf Guri and Kishor Patel at Plant Cell Technology plantcelltechnology.com/blogs/blog/t...

3D printed rotating tube mixer for incubating samples. Build instructions at: www.printables.com/model/52572-...

Building on my PCB face plate idea, how about a PCB front and back (with the main board in between) and a TPU band round the edge hugging it all in place 🤔 this is just a basic test, but I think it might just work... #Pi0cket #CL32 #ESP32

Excited to share the public release of the DIYNAFLUOR (DIY Nucleic Acid FLUORometer), a $40 USD, DIY, open-source, 3D-printed, solder-free, and portable DNA fluorometer you can build. 🦕 🧬 See our GitHub Repo for more! github.com/traulab/DIYN... #DIYScience #STEM #DIYNAFLUOR

Dear #DIYNAFLUOR users! Please check out the "experimental" folder on our github page. tinyurl.com/4v23f629 We have a design revision that appears to improve the LoD by ~3.5x, providing quantitation down to 0.16 ng DNA. This should cover v.short nanopore library QC. Would love any feedback! 🧪🧬🦕❤️

Unlocking the power of Engineering Biology www.gov.uk/government/n...

Semi-automated workflow for high-throughput Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation. Summary of our efforts to accelerate plant transgenics with the @earlhaminst.bsky.social Biofoundry. Now published in @theplantjournal.bsky.social. #PlantScience #Synbio onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Clever description of how to convert an inexpensive solar anchor buoy light into an extremely durable and waterproof solar powered Meshtastic node e.g. for sharing LoRa sensor data in a field setting. www.instructables.com/Meshtastic-S...

1/6 🧵 Excited to share Pocket Spectrometer V2! After positive feedback on the first version of pocket spectrometer. I've made significant improvements (hardware+software) while keeping what worked well with the V1 #OpenSource #Spectrometer #STEM 💡 bsky.app/profile/chin...

chinnadevarapu.bsky.social has updated his tiny, low cost Pocket Spectrometer design that uses an M5StickC microcontroller and AS7341 spectral sensor - simplified hardware connections and software improvements. Nice job! Details at: github.com/scientistnob...

🚀✨ Exciting innovation alert! Meet the Pocket Spectrometer: a compact, open-source device 📏🔬 (< $50). Affordable, and portable, it is the open-source hardware for spectral analysis 🎨💡. Science in your pocket! 🌟👨‍🔬👩‍🔬 github.com/scientistnob...

The mini capsules can be opened and used for microscopic observation as well. doi.org/10.1007/978-...

Chopping tubes and adding slits to allow the halves to fit together... doi.org/10.1007/978-...

Handy little trick from Jose Ignacio Laines-Hidalgo, Angela F. Ku-Gonzalez, and Felipe A. Vazquez-Flota published in doi.org/10.1007/978-... Making DIY small sealed capsules from Eppendorf tubes for plant histology.

3D print files for a collection of parts that allow micro servos to be plugged into Fischertechnik construction systems. Good for prototyping programmable mechanical devices... www.thingiverse.com/thing:2807112

The described procedure for making Lenticules is relatively simple. Cells are mixed with a solution containing a high concentration of trehalose, BSA and carboxymethyl cellulose as caking agents, saline (with optional food dye), and dried on parafilm before storage over desiccant.

However, details for preparation of Lenticules appears in a published patent: Storage of microorganisms, cells and tissue (WO 01/05941) See at: link.lens.org/aPFhU0Bjyli

Lenticules were described in doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2672.1998.00611.x. by Codd et al. - but composition of the critical component for storage, the "lenticulating fluid (Codds Medium)" seems missing in this and a subsequent paper (dot: 10.1046/j.1365-2672.2001.01432.x)...

Have always been interested in Lenticules and Vitroids (www.sigmaaldrich.com/deepweb/asse...) - as ways of storing/distributing microbial cells as stable, dry pellets, which could be widely useful for resource sharing. Lenticules originated at Public Health England, and a protocol is available...

Wild collection of heirloom and genetically variant seeds available from Tomato Revolution (www.tomatorevolution.co.uk) ready for next summer.

1/6 🧵 I'm building what might be the smallest #opensource #spectrometer with an easy to use UI! I call it a pocket spectrometer. Combining #M5StickC (~$20) with AS7341 sensor (~$16). My goal? A complete spectrometer that is barely larger than a sample cuvette itself.

Very cool use of optomechanical elements to make a "scanning" sepctrometer. blog.arduino.cc/2024/12/23/s...

Downloadable reference card for focus bracketing, on a site full of examples and advice about Olympus macro photography systems from Chris McGinniss www.chrismcginnis.com/gear

Here's an archived free copy of CL Strong's 1960 book with collected Amateur Scientist columns from Scientific American. Inspiration for citizen science. Forward by Vannevar Bush... archive.org/details/Proj...

Online portfolio of bryophyte plant images from across the globe - excellent macrophotography from Des Callaghan, captures some of the morphological diversity of this clade bryophytes.myportfolio.com/work

Fusion 360 files for 3D printing a good-looking Stevenson Screen (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevens...) to house outdoor sensors and electronics, some OpenGreenEnergy. Nice design with other potential applications... hackaday.io/project/1650...

Successive updates/instructions for building solar-powered environmental sensing stations with custom electronics, wireless communications and 3D printed outdoor housing. hackaday.io/project/1650... and hackaday.io/project/1820...