SENSORICA offers open sensing and sensemaking solutions. Our current projects cover multiple domains: biomedical, sports and agro-food. See SENSORICA value system.
The Scientific Instrument SystemBrought to you by the same guys who made the Penguin fly, an AFM-based force measurement system for myofibril-level muscle studies!
Mosquito prototype presented at the Bal du maire, Montreal City Hall, on 27 Nov. 2012
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Measuring the contraction of a small bundle of muscle cells |
A scientific grade instrument used in physiological and medical studies to probe dynamic mechanical properties of biological systems, from organs to sub-cellular structures. An ultra sensitive optical fiber-based force/displacement sensor device.
The Mosquito, is a technological marvel blended with ease of use, measurement accuracy, and robustness unmatched by other suppliers. It is a miniature ultra-precise force sensor, used by researchers in biology and physiology. It allows tactile sensing of living cells to determine the effects of experimental treatments, or to determine if cells are healthy. The Mosquito is used in research on muscles, on cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive diseases, as well as on cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases. The Mosquito, soon to be tested in two hospitals in Montreal, Canada will be distributed worldwide. It is the first member of a future lineage of displacement and force measuring devices.
The system is also provided with all necessary components for sample manipulation, a container for physiological media in which experiments are performed and visualized; software for data acquisition, visualization, conditioning, analysis, and management. See more on this document.
Installation procedures (coming soon...)
Service (coming soon...)
More about the force transducer
- Made of glass.
- 125 microns diameter, can be tens to hundreds of microns long.
- It can measure nN level forces and μm level displacements perpendicular to its axis sensor.
- The temporal resolution is sub-ms.
- It offers a great miniaturization path.
- It is very low cost and can be made disposable.
Components
| Force transducer | An ultra-sensitive optical fiber-based force transducer. It comes already calibrated for force measurements.
| | | Mosquito | Opto-electronics device used to interpret data produced by the force transducer.
| | Physiological bath - chemical stimulation
| Temperature controlled bath to hold the biological sample within a physiological medium (liquid). Further, the bath is also equipped with channels for fast solution exchange.
| | | Physiological bath - electrical stimulation | Temperature controlled bath to hold the biological sample within a physiological medium (liquid). Additionally, the bath is also equipped with channels for fast solution exchange, and graphite electrodes for electrical stimulation of the sample.
| | Microscope adapter
| Custom-made microscope adapter to mount the physiological bath and other parts of the system for an inverted microscope.
| | XYZ piezo micromanipulator
| A 3-axis piezo actuator-based system for sample manipulation and stretching... The range is 100 microns in all directions.
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Optical fiber processing| Fiber grooving device | Device used to sensitize polymer optical fibers by grooving. works well with 1mm and 0.5mm diameter. | |
In the pipeline| The Scientific Instrument System for Field Studies | This system is a version of the Scientific Instrument System suitable for field studies. It is a suitcase instrument and can be operated with a laptop computer. | | The Educational System | This system is a lower grade version of the Scientific system for Field Studies. It is easily transportable into the classroom and used for demonstrations. Furthermore, it can also be used during lab classes. It can be operated from a laptop computer. The experiment can be imaged and projected on a wide screen, giving students direct real-time access to the observed phenomena. Moreover, it is suitable for demonstrations of muscle contraction at the cellular level and of other dynamic mechanical properties of tissues and cells. | | XYZ piezo positioning system | This is an XYZ piezo assembly and controller for precise positioning. The range of motion can be >50, 300, 300 microns (can be customized). This design is made for biomedical applications. The piezo system can hold a needle-like instrument and can be mounted on other XYZ micromanipulators. |
Services
Open SENSORICA services system document
| Optical fiber coating | Coating of the tip of optical fiber for back reflection works well on glass fibers and PMMA fibers, up to 1mm in diameter. Only silver is used. Perfect for prototyping! We coat one fiber at the time, and can control the back reflection with high precision. Follow development.
Coating of the length of the fiber on a few cm length - this is still not an optimized process, but we can try it for you for free. |  silver coated 62.5 core glass fiber | | Optical fiber micro assembly | Self-aligning tubular assemblies. Components are held together in a bio-compatible polymer tube. Parts can also be of a slightly different diameter. | 
125 microns in diameter glass fiber held in place with a metal wire at a very precise distance | Shaping of optical fiber tip
| Processing glass fiber to create a lens on its tip.
| | | Experimental systems integration | We can provide help in integration and automation of experimental systems used in physiology and biology labs. See list of already offered services.
Apart from our direct input, we can also share with you our generic and modular automation software (LabView) that integrates imaging, motion, dosing, and data acquisition devices. This platform was also extended for data characterization, data conditioning and analysis. See more details on IAC (the IAC network is part of SENSORICA). | | Electronics design and prototyping
| Please contact us if you need help for your projects in electronics. | | | 3D modeling and prototyping | SENSORICA members have acquired experience in 3D modeling, using Solid Works and Sketup. They also have access to 3D printing equipment and CNC. We can assist you in designing and executing your prototypes. | | Simulation and data analysis
| SENSORICA members have acquired
experience in Matlab modeling and simulation, and image processing using ImageJ.
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3D modeling designs |
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