reGOSH Chilean Node Workshops

Megan Zimroth

reGOSH Chilean Node Workshops

reGosh

AWARD AMOUNT

7300 USD

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The Chilean Node is a part of reGOSH, a Latin American network developing open-source technologies for research and education purposes. The members of the Chilean Node have been organizing events about Open Source Hardware and Open Science over the past 6 years. They held a five-day event in Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago in April 2023, meant to prepare participants for a  two-week reGOSH residency focused on the challenges of climate change. Developing low-cost and open-source hardware for environmental monitoring has several challenges: power autonomy, sample collection and processing, and data sharing, among others. The workshops aimed:

  1. i) to develop new projects that can be brought to the residency about environmental monitoring and
  2. ii) to build capacities in women researchers and activists from Argentina and Chile who are working in this area. 

The first part of the workshop was intensive training around the operation of low-cost hardware for SARS-CoV-2 detection. This was held from May 15th to 31st by Ph.D. Justin Vigar from Pardee lab (University of Toronto), and opened opportunities for compatibility between open-source wetware and hardware for pathogen monitoring in remote settings. The second event was a collaboration with the company IO Rodeo, dedicated to the commercialization of open-source hardware for research and education. It allowed reGOSH Chile to purchase transilluminators, colorimeters and potentiostats that we will use for the Red Latinoamericana de Tecnologías Libres (reGOSH) residency in September, as well as for equipping several collaborating labs. The collaboration culminated with a public virtual talk organized through the Institute for Integrative Biology (iBio), which gathered more than 50 people and aroused high interest in the open-source products.

The intensive training benefited mainly young women researchers through developing their skills and networks. The talk with Dr. Long showed a role model of a successful woman in business in open science hardware. 

With this event and the corresponding residency and documented projects, reGOSH Chile aim to contribute to the development of locally applicable tools for environmental monitoring in any place where it may be needed. A positive aspect of these events is that they opened more collaborations and activities to keep promoting open hardware and science in Chile.

Reference Number: SEF-101-2023

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