[Open_electroporator] low cost bacterial non-salty electroporator proposal

[Nathan McCorkle]

Some response to the document:
I didn't see anything about adjusting voltage... different cuvettes
come in different plate-to-plate distances... common are 0.1cm and
0.2cm... some are adjustable with a screw (these are not disposable
though)... I would guess those pipectrodes are 0.1cm or less (I could
be wrong). For my purposes, I might want to electroporate a 0.1mm
cuvette (10X smaller than 'standard'). Remember, electroporation is
pulse shape (probably matters least), pulse length, and pulse field
voltage (volts per centimeter is the usual spec for the latter).

For the CP2104, you mentioned a USB endpoint... this sounds like
you'll need a custom OS-side USB driver too. The bandwidth required is
low, why not use the Virtual Com Port (VCP) driver that most OS have
preinstalled or ready to be downloaded via Windows Update. I
personally use both Windows and gnu/Linux, and would expect
cross-platform to be a requirement. Even my Android phone supports a
lot of the VCP drivers, which was a great surprise when I tried
something a few months ago. I definitely recommend against creating
your own driver. If you can sell us on why you want to do that, then
you might also want to take a look at:
http://hackaday.com/2015/04/03/usb-pids-for-all/

I might also recommend against the pipette idea... as you might
ultimately be the blame for some experiment going wrong because of
pipette inaccuracy. This depends on the pipectrodes anyway, but I
think I would recommend an interposer, something that docks on the
pipectrode making electrical contact, after which YOUR pipette comes
down and seats. That way YOUR pipette, however cheap or expensive,
however clean or grossly dirty inside (believe me, shared equipment
can be DIRTY... I always started with a 'new to me' pipette by rinsing
a bit of alcohol into the barrel to flush it). Maybe other than
business talks with Dr. Papp, and general idea formulation, you should
not focus on getting these to work. I only say this because once the
pyZappa works, it should be a mechanical challenge to get the
pipectrodes to work, not an electrical or biotech challenge.


Speaking of biotech... there was a biohackerspace in Austin I
thought... it would be a lot easier if you could test the pyZappa, at
least in terms of shipping costs and delay. I guess since you have HV
test equipment, you can scope things out before shipping to someone
who can try zapping some bacteria. But I wonder if we couldn't find a
closer/quicker solution. I can check with work to see if I could "work
remotely" from the Austin site, I know a few people in Austin I might
be able to stay with for a week or two. I guess all that hinges on
whether there is a biohackerspace there, or if you (or any of my
friends there) would mind pressure cooking weird-smelling food-like
items and incubating some bacteria.

Mmm, Texas barbeque... now I am thinking about electroporating BBQ...
I have no idea what that would mean/entail.


On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 2:49 PM, John Griessen <john at industromatic.com> wrote:
> On 06/02/2016 03:12 PM, Keoni Gandall wrote:
>>
>> Excited to see any results!
>
>
> The old laser printer tiny 2kV transformer turns ratio is 57:1 =/- one turn
> with 99% confidence.
>
> No other lab book notes yet, but some photos in the proposal, attached as
> open doc format to open with libre office.
> Tell me if you need  a pdf.
>
> Please tell me what you think, and how many early testing v0.1 v0.2 v0.3
> electroporators you want to support each.  Bryan is talking $2k, so maybe
> that is none.
> That can be OK if OK with him -- I'd send you machines to test no charge in
> that case.
>
> This proposal is for a product that I will drive to be safe, perform, and
> sell well, changing it until it does.
>
> John Griessen
>
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>



-- 
-Nathan