Instrumentation development is a cornerstone of cutting-edge scientific endeavour. Although many experiments can be performed within the boundaries of comercial instruments, some scientific explorations cannot, particularly the “wacky” ones we aim here at FuNII Lab. When the experimental design cannot be performed by current comercial equipment, new equipments and techniques need to be developed. This is very much true for nanoscale investigation of interfaces and single cell metabolism, of our interest.

Modern manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing and modular electronics based on microcontrollers allow high-end instruments, which not only rival but sometimes surpass comercial instruments capacity, to be fabricated in a cost efficient manner. We use such techniques to build bespoke electrochemical and optical instruments, and to hyphenate these techniques together. This allow us to perform unique experiments!

On a holistic perspective, using the aforementioned techniques to built low-cost scientific instrument, such as potentiostats, microscopes, conductivity meters, among others, allows democratization of science, so scientific experiments can be performed by everyone! This helps everyone to be in the same instrumental footing, levelling the playfield, at least on that regard. Here at FuNII Lab we se these developments not only as a way to payback for our majority public funding received, but also to help advance science by allowing more people to “cheap in” to the “scientific bucket of knowledge”. Decentralising science by performing citizen science is a way to promote faster scientific development, meaningful data collection and to promote inclusivity and representativity!

If you are interested by these topics, check our openings, or send us a message.