Orr Biologicals / Open biological intelligence

Open tools for
biological discovery.

We develop computational biology platforms, scientific software and research instrumentation for understanding complex living systems.

Explore Algae Read our approach
Current focus
Algae · single cells
Also building
Instruments · models
Standard
Evidence over assertion
Culture / live sampleSpecimen 01
Illustrative algae cultures in glass vessels for the Algaephyte research concept. Culture / vessels

Algae cultures in glass vessels, watched as a living system rather than averaged into a single number.

Illustrative scene of the Algaephyte research concept · not a deployed instrument.

Scroll to trace the workAlgae · cells · instruments

01 / What we build

Two scales.
One discipline.

Cultivation, sensing and single-cell observation are different questions. They share one requirement: make the evidence, the limits and the next test visible.

02 / The standard

The unit of trust is a source,
not a screenshot.

A claim without a record is only a rendering.

Orr Biologicals is built around provenance. Every record carries its source, version and limits alongside the result, so what was measured stays separate from what was computed.

We keep measured observations, curated metadata, computational models and predictions in separate evidence classes. These are research concepts in development; when a value is missing, the interface says DATA UNAVAILABLE rather than estimating a number and presenting it as biology.

Read the research approach

03 / How we work

Research is a
chain of custody.

The platform is a record of what was measured, what was computed and what remains unknown. That distinction is part of the product, not a disclaimer added at the end.

01

Start with the source.

Dataset, version, query, table and retrieval time precede interpretation. A root id is not portable across versions without a mapping.

02

Separate observation from inference.

Measured observations come from instrumented pipelines. Curated labels and model predictions retain their own evidence state.

03

Publish the limit with the result.

An automated detector is not a complete manual curation. A model is not a measurement. A page that hides either is not finished.

04 / The Journal

Notes from
the work.

Long-form notes on cultivation, imaging, single cells and the engineering choices behind the tools. Research notes are not peer-reviewed publications.

Modeling a living systemResearch note

Can a model help us understand a culture?

What a digital version of a growing system can tell us, and where real observations still matter most.

Read the note
01
A closer look at individual cellsHow tiny liquid channels help researchers study cells separately.
 02
What can a camera really tell us?The promise, and the limits, of looking for change in images.
 03
What shapes the way algae grow?Nutrients, light and the assumptions inside a growth model.
 04
Browse the JournalAll notes, organized by research area.

05 / Open by design

Built in the open.
Reviewed in public.

Source code, schemas, provenance and limitations belong with the result. The literature search runs live in the browser today; anything beyond it is an engineering commitment, not an endpoint we pretend exists.

Developer notes Research approach 
GET https://api.crossref.org/works/{doi}
200 open metadata · no key
source Crossref + OpenAlex
state live in the browser
  • Provenance before prose
  • Versioned dataset identity
  • Unavailable is a valid answer
  • Code and limits together

Support independent biological research.
Your voluntary contribution supports computational biology tools, scientific visualization and open research resources.

clumsyparsnip913@walletofsatoshi.com

About contributions ↗

06 / Correspondence

What are you
curious about?

Have a research question, a dataset to compare or a different way of seeing things? This form opens an email draft; you decide when to send it.