抄録
Recently, there have been significant advancements in the ability of the biotech industry to leverage techniques from the field of molecular biology. In educational settings, affordable scientific instruments are essential for hands-on training in engineering education. But unfortunately, many students miss out on getting practical experience in molecular biology, because the conventional equipment used in this field is expensive for educational facilities. To address this challenge, we turned our attention to open-source hardware, as another option for developing resources for molecular biology education. Our investigation into the current state of open-source hardware in Japanese education revealed a relatively low level of awareness among instructors and researchers, when compared to the level of interest in and adoption of open-source technologies in other countries. In this paper we present examples of how we integrated our research project into hands-on molecular biology training, and we discuss the potential of open-source hardware in improving engineering education in Japan.
