Research

I did some reasearch into making a PCR machine today. I began by looking on Slack to see if anyone had made one before. I found that @wormmeatapple had made one before for Highway, so I took a look at his repository to understand how it worked. His model, pictured below, helped me understand how the DNA sample is heated and cooled.

After doing some more research, I found PocketPCR, which is another open-source PCR machine made by GaudiLabs. However, one thing I noticed that was common in both PCR machines was that they both used capacitive heating elements to heat their DNA samples. One issue with this is that they are slow and not very precise, so I did some more research into this. A lot of the cheaper, DIY PCR machines use resistive heating elements instead of Peltier modules, which are used in high-end PCR machines. I also found this PCR machine that looks very nice and has a heated top to prevent evaporation of the sample. I will use this for my reference design.

Credit to @wormmeatapple for the image