Accelerate the path from lab concept to production-ready system.
Most microfluidic programs stall at the gap between a working lab concept and a manufacturable, scalable system. I provide independent engineering to close that gap, whether you are scaling a benchtop process, integrating fluidics into hardware, or recovering a stalled manufacturing engagement.
I integrate directly with your multidisciplinary teams to identify bottlenecks and apply expert system design, ensuring your technology hits every performance metric on a predictable, cost-effective timeline.
Independent Technical Advisory
When your design advisor is also your manufacturer, their recommendations will naturally reflect their own capabilities and capacity. My advice is free from that constraint. My only focus is helping your program hit its performance targets, protect its margins, and stay on schedule.
How I Accelerate Your Specific Program
Select your profile below to see how we bridge the gap between science and manufacturing.
Pick your path above to explore how I can help.
The Challenge: Whether you have a validated prototype or are rescuing a stalled design, early Design for Manufacturability matters. I help you build a scale-up roadmap that aligns your design with cost-effective production, reducing delays and avoidable iteration cycles.
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01
Alignment & Requirements
Defining the finish line before capital is spent. Mapping key performance metrics and target unit costs.
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De-risking & Prototyping
Bridging the gap between the lab bench and scalable manufacturing. Developing the manufacturable blueprint and orchestrating rapid prototyping through specialized partners or your own internal capabilities.
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Refinement & Handoff
Protecting the design as it moves into production. Final design refinement and acting as your technical authority during the transfer to a manufacturing partner.
The Challenge: Your core focus is the biology, not the hardware. When scaling biological processes from the benchtop to a pilot line, fluidic behavior fundamentally changes. I design the custom fluidic systems required to scale your specific assays or synthesis reliably.
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Biological Alignment
Translating science into technical requirements. Defining exact biological constraints and target yields.
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Validation Loop
Proving the hardware reliably replicates your benchtop results. Designing custom systems and guiding physical validation, whether through your internal lab team or specialized partners, to ensure consistency at scale.
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03
Scaling & Deployment
Moving from the lab to a robust pilot line. Finalizing designs that integrate seamlessly into your existing workflows and production environment.
The Challenge: Whether handed down from a client or developed by your internal R&D team, lab-scale fluidic designs are rarely built to interface with industrial instrumentation. I embed with your team to identify failure modes at both the cartridge level and the cartridge-to-instrument interface, before system integration, protecting your scope and timeline.
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Interface Audit
Identifying friction points between cartridge and instrument. Evaluating the fluidic design against your electromechanical constraints.
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Iterative Testing
Catching hidden failure modes before full assembly. Designing rigorous testing protocols and validating pumping, valving, and sensing.
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Final Integration
Ensuring robust, real-world system performance. Troubleshooting during the physical marriage of cartridge and instrument.
ALVARO J. CONDE, PHD
Independent Microfluidics & Systems Engineer
As a Biomedical Engineer and former deep-tech founder, I know that successful technologies require more than just a CAD file. Having built my own startup, I learned firsthand how to innovate under strict resource constraints. I specialize in cross-disciplinary translation, bridging the critical communication gaps between biologists, clinicians, and hardware engineers.
Over the past 16+ years and 1,500+ devices, I have executed full-lifecycle engineering from the lab bench to the factory floor. My hands-on experience ranges from running biological experiments to architecting large-scale pharmaceutical programs and collaborating with instrument builders.
I pair this approach with 6 years operating inside Micronit, a leading European microfluidics contract development and manufacturing company (ISO 13485). Because I understand exactly how facilities evaluate, price, and scale designs from the inside out, I help you foresee and eliminate integration failures long before you pay to build them.
Experience Across Applications
My work sits at the layer where your science meets your hardware. Over 16+ years, I have engineered microfluidic systems across a wide range of applications. Here are some of them:
Therapeutics
mRNA synthesis platforms, LNP and liposome-assisted synthesis.
Diagnostics
cfDNA capture, IVD devices, and molecular platforms.
Advanced Processing
Tangential Flow Filtration (TFF), precision mixing, and continuous-flow micro-manufacturing.
Complex Consumables
Lab-on-a-chip, Organ-on-chip, advanced polymer and glass architectures.
Flexible Engagement Shapes
Every engagement begins with a short strategy call to understand where your program stands today, whether at ideation, mid-development, or navigating a difficult manufacturing phase. From there, we agree on the structure that fits best:
The Design Audit
A fixed-scope, intensive review of your current fluidic design and scale-up plan. You receive a clear identification of hidden risks and an actionable roadmap with concrete next steps, whether or not we continue working together.
Defined Project Engagement
Targeted, hands-on guidance through a specific phase: prototyping, biological validation, design refinement, or rescuing a stalled manufacturing engagement. Scoped with clear deliverables and timeline.
Embedded Advisory
Fractional, ongoing expertise embedded directly with your team, including technical representation during manufacturing partner selection and design transfer.
Agility Over Bureaucracy
Working with me is simple: one conversation to align, days to start, and direct access to the person doing the work. No management overhead, no layers between you and the expertise. Your program moves forward faster and at a fraction of the cost of traditional alternatives.
Let's discuss your next technical steps.
Every successful scale-up starts with a conversation. Book a confidential, 30-minute introductory call to discuss your current roadblocks and evaluate if we are a fit.