Building a Containerised Lab

Dr Stadler had a bold vision – one he hoped could revolutionize wound care in disaster and conflict situations around the world. He was looking for a scalable solution that could be deployed to any location when needed. 

“My idea was a container, which would house an insectary to breed the flies, and a laboratory that would meet the required standards and provide clean-room facilities, so that we could produce very effective and high-quality medicinal maggots in the field anywhere we can put it,” says Dr Stadler.

“Having a shipping container, which is very mobile, converted into a laboratory makes sense. It’s a solution where we can produce a large quantity of medicinal maggots close to the point of [patient] care.”

The potential to scale up the project in the future was also a critical consideration for the containerised solution.

“The scalable solutions in the medical space are really important because often the most difficult places to treat people are the remote ones,” says Dale Garson.

Given the scientific and medical nature of the work that would need to be completed in the space, Dr Stadler had a number of requirements which needed to be considered when designing the container, including two separate areas to avoid cross contamination.

“We installed a couple of air conditioners, and we split the container into two rooms. Both rooms were air conditioned, but at the same time, we needed to vent the container as well. We had to try and work out a balance between air conditioning and air circulation inside and heat,” says Warner. The container also needed to be elevated in order to keep ants out.

“That was one important feature because otherwise the fly colonies would very easily be prey to ants overnight,” says Dr Stadler.