Quero Francisco J, Aidelberg Guy, Vielfaure Hortense, Huon de Kermadec Yann, Cazaux Severine, Pandi Amir, Pascual-Garrigos Ana, Arce Anibal, Sakyi Samuel, Gaudenz Urs, Federici Fernan, Molloy Jennifer C, Lindner Ariel B
Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1284, Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity, Paris, France.
Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
PLoS Biol. 2025 May 28;23(5):e3003199. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003199. eCollection 2025 May.
Access to affordable and reliable scientific instrumentation remains a significant barrier to the democratization of healthcare and scientific research. In the field of biotechnology, in particular, the complexity, cost, and infrastructure requirements of many instruments continue to limit their accessibility, especially in resource-limited environments. Despite the recent increase in the development of open-source tools, driven by advances in digital fabrication and electronic prototyping, few of these projects have reached large-scale implementation or validation in real-world settings. Here, we present qByte, an open-source, 8-tube isothermal fluorimeter designed to overcome these barriers by offering a cost-effective ($60) yet production-ready solution. qByte leverages standard digital manufacturing and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assembly techniques and is designed to be portable, making it ideal for both laboratory and field use. The device has been benchmarked against commercial real-time thermocyclers and spectrophotometers, showing comparable results across four key applications: nucleic acid amplification and detection, including the on-site diagnosis of human parasites in Ghana, analysis of protein activity and stability, genetic construct characterization, and bacterial viability tests. Taken together, our results proved qByte as flexible and reliable equipment for a variety of biological tests and applications, while its affordability and open-source design simplify further development and allow adaptation to the needs of future users.
获得价格合理且可靠的科学仪器仍然是医疗保健和科学研究民主化的一个重大障碍。特别是在生物技术领域，许多仪器的复杂性、成本和基础设施要求继续限制了它们的可及性，尤其是在资源有限的环境中。尽管最近在数字制造和电子原型技术进步的推动下，开源工具的开发有所增加，但这些项目中很少有在实际环境中实现大规模实施或验证的。在此，我们展示了qByte，一种开源的8管等温荧光计，旨在通过提供一种经济高效（60美元）且可投入生产的解决方案来克服这些障碍。qByte利用标准数字制造和印刷电路板（PCB）组装技术，设计为便携式，使其非常适合实验室和现场使用。该设备已与商业实时热循环仪和分光光度计进行了基准测试，在四个关键应用中显示出可比的结果：核酸扩增和检测，包括在加纳对人体寄生虫的现场诊断、蛋白质活性和稳定性分析、基因构建体表征以及细菌活力测试。综上所述，我们的结果证明qByte是用于各种生物学测试和应用的灵活可靠的设备，而其可承受性和开源设计简化了进一步开发，并允许根据未来用户的需求进行调整。
