Laboratory hardware is often custom made or significantly modified. To improve reproducibility, it is imperative that these novel instruments are properly documented. Increasing adoption of open source hardware practices can potentially improve this situation. This article explores how open licences and open development methodologies enable custom instrumentation to be reproduced, scrutinized and properly recorded.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 1 digital issues and online access to articles
$99.00 per year
only $99.00 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Diederich, B. et al. CAD we share? Publishing reproducible microscope hardware. Nat. Methods 19, 1026–1030 (2022).
Hohlbein, J. et al. Open microscopy in the life sciences: quo vadis? Nat. Methods 19, 1020–1025 (2022).
Fortunato, L. & Galassi, M. The case for free and open source software in research and scholarship. Philos. Trans. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. 379, 20200079 (2021).
Pitrone, P. G. et al. OpenSPIM: an open-access light-sheet microscopy platform. Nat. Methods 10, 598–599 (2013).
Voigt, F. F. et al. The mesoSPIM initiative: open-source light-sheet microscopes for imaging cleared tissue. Nat. Methods 16, 1105–1108 (2019).
Stirling, J., Bumke, K., Collins, J., Dhokia, V. & Bowman, R. HardOps: utilising the software development toolchain for hardware design. Int. J. Comput. Integr. Manuf. 35, 1297–1309 (2022).
Collins, J. T. et al. Robotic microscopy for everyone: the OpenFlexure microscope. Biomed. Opt. Express 11, 2447–2460 (2020).
Ouyang, W. et al. An open-source modular framework for automated pipetting and imaging applications. Adv. Biol. 6, 2101063 (2022).
Acknowledgements
R.W.B. acknowledges financial support from the Royal Society (URF\R1\180153).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
At the time of writing, R.W.B. was a director of OpenFlexure Industries, which sells kits of the OpenFlexure Microscope, an open hardware device.
Additional information
Related linksRelated links
Adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/
Arduino: https://www.arduino.cc/
GitBuilding: https://gitbuilding.io/
GOSH: https://openhardware.science/
LabMaker: https://www.labmaker.org/
OpenFlexure Microscope: https://openflexure.org/projects/microscope/
Open Hardware Makers: https://openhardware.space/
Open Neuroscience: https://open-neuroscience.com/
OpenQCM: https://openqcm.com/
OpenTrons: https://opentrons.com/
Prusa Research: https://www.prusa3d.com/
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bowman, R.W. Improving instrument reproducibility with open source hardware. Nat Rev Methods Primers 3, 27 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-023-00218-x
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-023-00218-x
