Although many off-the-shelf systems claim to be able to automate tasks for Life Sciences, one user found that there was a limit to the kinds of tests that could be done which might require purchasing multiple types of equipment.  This researcher, somewhat familiar with the ideas of Virtual Instrumentation, visualized a system which allowed him to change nearly anything he needed.  Cyth Systems was consulted to create a system which would enhance the basic ideas of fluoroscopy and add much more capability.

The basic idea of fluorescent microscopy, sometimes called fluoroscopy, is to take a sample of biology, such as live tissue or germs, and apply some kind of drug to see the reaction, visible in a microscope.  Sometimes the changes were not perceptible with natural light, so lasers of several wavelengths were used to illuminate the sample, which would react and glow with its own light. 

Cyth Systems used many products from National Instruments (NI) to make the device as powerful and flexible as possible.  The uniqueness of this system started with a digital IEEE-1394 camera attached to the microscope, which allowed high-resolution pictures to be immediately stored on the computer, and the option to take several pictures over time.  The result was a time-lapse video of the effect of the treatment on the sample.  Additionally, using NI's Vision Development toolkit and the powerful Vision Assistant interface, real-time image analysis could be done to quantify the effects of the drug in real-time while the researcher watches, or to have flags set so the test can monitor itself with no one watching.

Using NI's Vision Assistant, programmers are able to view a sample image while they configure the analysis that needs to be done.  With dozens of built-in measurement tools, it's effortless to do things like find, measure, and count circular objects, or throw out objects which are cut off at edge of the image.  For even more powerful processing, give the system several examples of image segments which you classify manually, and the system will train itself to recognize the classification.  So for cells you might hi-light all the 'dead' cells, and after a few examples, the system will recognize the common features like circularity, color, size, and many others. 

Controlling a variety of lasers was of primary importance.  Most systems offered a single wavelength or perhaps a choice of three similar lasers from the same manufacturer.  No system existed which allowed the user to specify a laser and provide a driver.  It seemed this would be a most accommodating solution for this application, but it could only be done with NI software. 

Creating the flexible driver system used concepts borrowed from the Interchangeable-Virtual-Instrument (IVI) specification.  Using IVI calls for defining an instrument type and all the commands which are shared in common among those similar instruments, such as oscilloscopes and power supplies.  Products like lasers are not specified by IVI, so the concept was unofficially applied to lasers of multiple types, and resulted in a control system for several manufacturer's lasers of different types and specifications.

Triggering the lasers to fire with the camera was another requirement which was easy using NI's hardware.  The E-Series Multiple I/O (MIO) card has many digital and analog I/O lines.  Any combination of digital lines can be used together to pretrigger and fire the laser with a configurable delay relative to taking the image.  As wavelengths and manufacturers changed for lasers, so did the need for ultra-flexible inputs and outputs.

The most powerful tool for making the automation was to use NI's TestStand, a sequencing application designed to interface with code modules written in nearly any language.  TestStand has built-in features which allow zero-programming solutions to calling one step after another for basic steps like doing actions, testing results versus numeric limits, or checking for certain results.  Handling the results of these steps, using If-Then clauses, or preconditional requirements, was all done graphically without using any code.

For more advanced steps, Cyth Systems specializes in creating 'Custom Steps' for TestStand which turn more complex tasks into a simple configuration wizards.  For example, dispensing drugs in liquid form required opening valves for a fixed period of time.  At first, only one valve was necessary, requiring a single digital line with precise hardware timing.  The code to accomplish this task was done only once.  Anticipating the need for additional valves in the future, a simple interface was created to allow users to choose which digital lines to use, and how long to keep them in the 'on' state.  Now, using this 'Custom Step', any user could modify or re-design the sequence without any experience.  

This task was a unique one which combined the needs of Biology, Physics, and Electrical Engineering.  Off-the-shelf solutions solved the problem for a very specific set of criteria only.  Yet for about 60% of the cost of one of these benchtop instruments, a custom solution was developed instead using exclusively NI hardware and software, and the result was more powerful and flexible than any of these devices could have been.

Solutions like these from Cyth Systems and National Instruments are plentiful.  For more information, please Contact Us to have a consultation or for more details.