Most investigators and technicians who have worked in a basic science or clinical lab are aware that durable equipment, glassware, and consumables often go unused, especially following changes in projects, personnel, or funding. Centrifuges, spectrophotometers, balances, reaction vials, unopened plastic-ware, and other specialized equipment are placed in storage and eventually discarded when obsolete. When new, such equipment can be prohibitively expensive for smaller research labs and biotech start-ups. In order to address this imbalance, provide opportunities for young investigators, and reduce waste, Calamity aims to set up a free, “Craigslist-style” exchange for functional laboratory equipment.
Device to introduce equibiaxial strain to tissues grown in 3D culture
A basic requirement of tissue engineering research is the ability to culture cells in three dimensions, while maintaining different signaling and nutrient environments on the apical and basal sides of the developing tissue. This allows it to stratify and polarize. Another requirement is the ability to introduce controlled mechanical cues to the tissue in the form of cyclical stretching, similar to those experienced by tissues developing in vivo. These cues have a critical effect on gene expression (mechano-transduction) and can promote differentiation. Importantly, the strain experienced by the tissue should be “equi-biaxial” (equal in radial (R) and circumferential (C) directions), mimicking the deformation experienced by the wall of a roughly spherical organ. Until now, no off-the-shelf tissue culture device has been available to investigators that meets both requirements. Calamity is designing a product to address this.
Microfluidic device for portable, low-cost hematology
Accurate, high-throughput cell sorting/counting from whole blood samples plays an important role in a number of clinical diagnostic and research applications. However, it typically requires sample volumes on the order of tens of milliliters and expensive, stationary flow cytometers. Our goal is to create a lab-on-a-chip device for cell analysis that is portable, inexpensive, and can be operated with minimal training. In essence, it should allow for point-of-care blood analysis without the use of traditional laboratory equipment or technicians. Accordingly the current iteration is designed to be paired with a camera-equipped smartphone and an app that provides data regarding the sample’s composition, including red and white blood cell count, platelet count, and hematocrit. The technology itself draws on principles from microfluidics, hemocytometry, gel electrophoresis, and compound microscopy, and may be accurate with only microliter quantities of blood.
