3D-printable and laser-cuttable flow-through culture devices for aquatic organisms.
PhenoChip is an open hardware platform for creating flow-through culture and imaging devices for aquatic organisms.
The repository contains designs spanning different organism sizes and experimental requirements, using two complementary fabrication approaches:
- Laser-cut devices — rapid, inexpensive fabrication from stacked sheet materials
- DLP-printed devices — higher geometric complexity and miniaturisation through resin 3D printing
The aim is to provide adaptable culture environments that maintain animals under controlled flow while enabling unobstructed optical imaging.
Many approaches to automated phenotyping and behavioural imaging require organisms to remain in a defined imaging region for extended periods while maintaining appropriate environmental conditions.
PhenoChip devices combine:
continuous flow + organism retention + optical access
into compact, reproducible culture chambers.
Rather than defining a single device, PhenoChip provides a set of design principles and fabrication approaches that can be scaled to organisms with very different body sizes.
Layered devices fabricated from laser-cut sheet materials.
Best suited to:
- larger organisms
- rapid prototyping
- inexpensive fabrication
- easily modified chamber dimensions
- experiments requiring large optically clear surfaces
[PHOTO / EXPLODED DIAGRAM]
hardware/laser-cut/
Monolithic or multi-component devices fabricated using high-resolution DLP resin printing.
Best suited to:
- small organisms
- fine flow features
- complex internal geometries
- highly repeatable devices
- dense culture/imaging configurations
[PHOTO / RENDER]
hardware/dlp/
PhenoChip is designed around the organism rather than a fixed device format.
| Scale | Example chamber size | Fabrication | Typical application |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | µm–mm | DLP | larvae / small invertebrates |
| Medium | mm–cm | DLP / laser cut | aquatic invertebrates |
| Large | cm+ | laser cut | larger invertebrates / early fish |
Device dimensions, retention structures, flow paths and optical geometry can be modified independently.
Continuous exchange of water or experimental media maintains environmental conditions without removing animals from the imaging system.
Culture regions are designed around optical access, enabling longitudinal imaging, behavioural measurements and automated phenotyping.
Chamber dimensions and flow features can be adapted to organism size and imaging requirements.
Designs use accessible fabrication technologies and editable source files wherever possible.
Devices can be adapted for different flow regimes, environmental manipulations, imaging systems and biological applications.
phenochip/
├── hardware/
│ ├── laser-cut/
│ │ ├── designs/
│ │ ├── fabrication/
│ │ └── examples/
│ │
│ └── dlp/
│ ├── designs/
│ ├── fabrication/
│ └── examples/
│
├── docs/
│ ├── design-guide/
│ ├── assembly/
│ └── imaging/
│
├── examples/
│ └── organisms/
│
└── README.md
Choose a device according to:
organism size → imaging requirements → flow requirements → fabrication method
Detailed fabrication and assembly instructions are provided within each device directory.
PhenoChip devices are intended to support applications including:
- longitudinal imaging
- automated phenotyping
- developmental biology
- behavioural analysis
- ecotoxicology
- environmental physiology
- aquaculture research
- organism–environment experiments
PhenoChip is intended as a growing collection of open designs.
Contributions of new device geometries, organism-specific adaptations, fabrication methods and validated imaging configurations are welcome.
If you adapt a PhenoChip design for a new organism, consider contributing the design files and basic fabrication parameters so that others can reproduce it.
If you use PhenoChip in published research, please cite:
[Citation / DOI to be added]
Hardware designs: [CERN-OHL / appropriate licence]
Documentation and other repository content: [licence]