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Harmful chemical and biological agents are a significant threat to health and prosperity worldwide. Recent years have seen an increase in wars and conflicts around the globe, raising concerns about the potential deployment of chemical and biological warfare agents. On a less speculative level, harmful chemicals such as narcotic substances cause immense humanitarian and economic damage through overdoses and associated healthcare costs, while microbes such as pathogenic bacteria and parasites cause hospital-acquired infections and food spoilage at a cost of approximately 1 trillion euros every year. To combat the threat of these harmful agents, we must thus develop rapid and effective detection and diagnostic methods for harmful agents, allowing us to effectively deploy specific treatments and preventative measures.

Classically, while there exist numerous methods for the detection of both harmful chemical and biological agents, they often come with limitations that inhibit their effectiveness. These inhibitions often take the form of bulky equipment that is difficult to apply in the field or time-consuming preparation and measurement processes.

In this thesis we will explore an alternative category of assays for detecting and characterizing harmful materials – optical spectroscopy. Optical spectroscopy is a category of material characterization methods that use light to probe a material. While probing the material, we receive a signal characteristic of the molecules, chemical, and biological structure of our material. These optical spectroscopic methods, such as Raman spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy, can be used to characterize a material within the span of minutes or even seconds, making them ideal for detection applications. Furthermore, they can often be made portable or even handheld, making them a great tool for initial field indication of harmful materials, ahead of thorough lab analysis.

I sincerely hope the studies presented herein can serve as a stepping stone to future technologies and detection assays, capable of saving both money and lives. 

Biophysics bridges the research questions of biology with the measurement techniques of physics and engineering. Through collaborations with industrial and academic researchers across multiple disciplines, the studies presented in this thesis address a wide range of biological phenomena, from the minute thermal motion of single-cell microorganisms to the flow conditions in industrial and natural environments. The ability of biophysics to operate across these scales enables applications including pathogen detection, biofilm prevention, and personalized medicine. However, advancing research in these areas requires sophisticated instruments that are often slow and costly to produce using conventional manufacturing techniques.

This thesis explores how recent advances in open-source electronics and consumer-grade additive manufacturing, known as 3D printing, can be used for rapid prototyping of custom scientific instruments in the lab. The thesis details a practical framework for designing instruments using additive manufacturing, computer simulations, and integrated measurement systems, including design principles for improved performance and reliability. The work covers instruments for single-cell detection, manipulation, and disruption using microscopy and microfluidics, with the aim of increasing measurement throughput. It also presents flow devices for enhanced biofilm incubation, fluid biomimicry, and clinical assessment of cerebral fluid dynamics. Throughout the development process, emphasis is placed on extending measurement capabilities beyond those offered by standardized methods and commercial systems, while also providing the analytical tools needed to interpret the measurement results.

Together, this work demonstrates that consumer-grade 3D printers can produce components with sufficient precision and accuracy for advanced biophysical instrumentation, enabling a more collaborative and demand-driven approach to instrument development within the research community.

Biofysik förenar biologins forskningsfrågor med de mätmetoder och tekniska lösningar som utvecklats inom fysik och ingenjörsvetenskap. Genom samarbeten med industriella och akademiska forskare från flera olika discipliner behandlar studierna i denna avhandling ett brett spektrum av biologiska fenomen, från de ytterst små termiska rörelserna hos mikroorganismer till flödesförhållanden i såväl industriella som naturliga miljöer. Biofysikens förmåga att verka över dessa olika skalor möjliggör tillämpningar inom bland annat detektion av skadliga patogener, förebyggande av biofilmsbildning, och individanpassad medicin. Samtidigt kräver forskning inom dessa områden avancerad instrumentering som ofta är både kostsam och tidskrävande att utveckla med konventionella tillverkningsmetoder.

I denna avhandling undersöks hur de senaste framstegen inom elektronik och konsumentinriktad additiv tillverkning, så kallad 3D-utskrift, kan användas för att snabbt utveckla skräddarsydda vetenskapliga instrument i laboratoriemiljö. Avhandlingen presenterar ett praktiskt ramverk för utvecklingen av instrument baserat på additiv tillverkning, datorsimuleringar, och integrerade mätsystem, inklusive designprinciper för förbättrad prestanda och tillförlitlighet. Arbetet omfattar instrument för detektion, manipulering och destruktion av enskilda celler med hjälp av mikroskopi och mikrofluidik, med målet att öka analyskapaciteten. Vidare presenteras flödessystem för förbättrad odling av biofilmer, modeller av biologiska system, och klinisk bedömning av flöden genom hjärnvävnad. Genom hela utvecklingsprocessen har fokus legat på att utöka mätmöjligheterna bortom vad standardiserade metoder och kommersiella system erbjuder, samtidigt som analytiska verktyg utvecklats för att granska insamlat mätresultat.

Sammantaget visar detta arbete att konsumentklassade 3D-skrivare kan tillverka komponenter med den precision och noggrannhet som krävs för avancerad biofysikalisk instrumentering. Därmed möjliggörs en mer samarbetsinriktad och behovsstyrd utveckling av instrument inom forskarsamhället.