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Aug 31, 2018 | By Thomas

Researchers from a McMaster University lab have developed a small, black box that change the way scientists search for new antibiotics.

The Printed Fluorescence Imaging Box (PFIbox) is a 3D printed box that is capable of collecting large amounts of data that is then analyzed by researchers. The box, made of nine 3D-printed parts, allows scientists to analyze more than 6,000 samples of bacteria at a time.

PFIbox uses LED lights to excite fluorescent proteins found in bacteria and then wirelessly sends data to researchers studying how cells respond to antibiotics over time. It is being used at the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research to help researchers develop and create new antibiotics.

The researchers have made the PFIbox's code open source and available to anyone who wants to use them.

"We fully expect—in fact, we hope—people take the code for this tool and improve upon it," says Shawn French, a researcher with the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University. "We want people to have full access to what we think is a very important new development in the battle against superbugs."

According to researchers, the PFIbox's nine structural parts can be 3D printed in about a day and assembled in minutes. The cost of producing the PFIbox is $200.

"3D printing is allowing us to create tools and instrumentation that simply don't exist yet," says infectious disease researcher Eric Brown, who led the work on the project, along with Shawn French and Brittney Coutts. "Here, we have designed and built an absolutely cutting-edge lab instrument for about $200. It's simply game-changing for our work to discover new antibiotics."

Eric Brown is a professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences, and a researcher with the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University. CREDIT: McMaster University

The paper on this new 3D-printed PFIbox was published in Cell Systems.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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