Happy Throwback Thursday! This week we interviewed Harrison Kollias of the QuaranTEAM, which developed the fluid controls system of ResonanceDx’s rapid COVID-19 diagnostic test.
Q: Could you give us a brief description of your project for those who may not know about it?
A: We’ve spent last semester working with our sponsor, ResonanceDx, to develop a brand new, innovative infectious disease diagnostic test system. This new system will enable accurate test results to be delivered to the patient within 5 minutes, much faster than any other test on the market. Due to the pandemic, ResonanceDx’s focus shifted to meeting this goal specifically for COVID-19 diagnostics. Our team was responsible for the development of the fluid control system for a test cartridge used in this system.
Q: What was the creation process like?
A: Our team worked well with each other by evaluating each other’s strength and then clearly defining roles for each member of the team. The creation process went very smoothly as a result and our team never had any issues with meeting deadlines.
Q: What were some of the problems that you faced along the way?
A: Teamwork was never an issue for us, but one of the more prominent design challenges for the system was creating a way to move fluid without having powered electronics within the fluidic system. Our solution incorporated converting rotational motion of a motor into linear motion in a syringe to pump the sample fluid through the fluidic channels. This provided for a simple control scheme that only required the powered rotation of 2 motors to control the entire fluidic system.
Q: What do you think made your team successful in creating a fluidic package for Covid-19 rapid diagnostic tests?
A: Our team worked hard to understand and define the problem as early as possible so that we could start designing and prototyping very early in the semester. A design will be more successful with more iterations that can be evaluated.
Q: Do you have any advice for future teams?
A: Define goals early, stay as organized as possible, and communicate constantly. There are no shortcuts.