Nonprofit formation
Legal setup, donation rails, governance notes, and public grant language so funding can be tied to specific work.
LaminarForge
LaminarForge
Open nonprofit infrastructure for HSV-2 therapeutics research: cell culture, tissue-on-chip systems, AAV selectivity screening, imaging, lab automation, and public validation records.
Current plan
LaminarForge is not open-sourcing a finished device. It is open-sourcing the buildout of a research platform.
The exact hardware and biological workflows will evolve as testing teaches what works. The operating model is fixed: nonprofit, open-source, transparent, validation-first, and milestone-driven.
What needs to be done
Build the pieces that make later experiments inspectable.
The near-term work is infrastructure, not a final therapeutic claim. Funding should attach to concrete inputs: legal formation, prototype parts, validation fixtures, consumables, lab access, imaging, automation, and public documentation.
16-slot cassette
A reusable 4 x 4 carrier direction for one AAV capsid, promoter, payload, dose, or other defined condition.
Disposable fluid path
Tubing, seals, witness marks, condition labels, and handling assumptions that can be replaced between runs.
No-cell validation
Fit, leak behavior, bubble control, flow balance, imaging access, environmental logs, and run records before biology.
Cell-culture readiness
Sterile workflow, sensory-neuron and tissue-on-chip planning, consumables, and outside lab or core-facility support.
Automation and data
Liquid handling, imaging, barcode or condition identity, and public data packages for reproducible comparisons.
Open by default
Funding should make the public record stronger.
Every funded block should leave behind something useful: a BOM, a drawing, a decision log, a test result, a failure report, or a reproducible workflow note.
- Publish CAD, firmware, software, BOMs, decision logs, and validation results when they are mature enough to inspect.
- Treat failed designs as part of the record, not as private cleanup work hidden behind a polished release.
- Use funding targets that map to concrete materials, equipment, tests, and public milestones.
- Keep sensitive biological claims conservative: this is nonclinical research infrastructure, not a cure claim, treatment, or diagnostic product.
Current reference build
Start with the 16-slot cassette, but keep the design honest.
This is the first physical format to validate, not a promise that every downstream design decision is settled. Scale comes from parallel cassettes or sealed modules under matched environmental controls.
The first physical cassette build is a 16-slot, 4 x 4 cassette.
One cassette means one AAV condition. Candidate mixing waits until isolation and carryover have been validated.
Reusable carrier, lid and clamp, gasket or witness system, barcode or condition ID, and dock/module interfaces.
No-cell and media-only checks come before interpreting any biological readout.
Funding roadmap
Transparent, BOM-style targets before broad fundraising.
These are planning ranges, not final vendor quotes. As each design freezes, the ranges should be replaced by public line-item BOMs with vendors, quantities, alternates, and status.
| Block | Inputs | Estimate | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formation and public infrastructure | Nonprofit setup, donation processing, governance docs, public repository structure, and grant materials. | $1k-$5k | A legal and public surface that can accept support and show exactly where it goes. |
| Mechanical cassette prototype | Reusable carrier, lid/clamp, gaskets, labels, fixtures, fabrication iterations, and inspection supplies. | $2k-$8k | A physical 16-slot cassette that can be handled, sealed, labeled, and revised in public. |
| No-cell validation package | Tubing harnesses, pumps or pressure-control assumptions, dyes, leak tests, flow checks, imaging access, and run logs. | $2k-$10k | Evidence that the platform behaves physically before cells are added. |
| Cell-culture readiness | Sterile workflow capability, consumables, incubation assumptions, cell-model planning, and lab or core-facility support. | $15k-$60k | A path from mechanical validation into responsible biological model work. |
| AAV screening readiness | Matched environmental controls, condition isolation checks, imaging/readout pipeline, dose recovery, and reproducibility records. | $25k-$100k | Parallel cassette comparisons without pretending the first platform is already final. |
Contact
Support the buildout
For funding, grant, lab, fabrication, review, or collaboration questions, use the project inbox.