I just read a Cytofluidix article that described an interesting new site, Metafluidics, that is acting as an open-source repository of designs and information for the microfluidics community. It’s free, and users can browse submitted designs, view blog posts where other users comment on designs, and download a design CAD file to be able to reproduce a device.
The repository was built at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, and is maintained by their Media Lab. Metafluidics’ director, David Kong, highlights that this will hopefully accelerate the diffusion of microfluidic technology and reduce the amount of “reinventing the wheel” in the field. Currently, different researchers working in a given microfluidic field often cannot use other published research as a stepping stone to move their own research forward, as previous work may have limitted details included in the journal publications.
See the Metafluidics website, Cytofluidix article or Kong’s recent Nature Biotechnology article for more information.