Low-Cost Manipulator and Mini-Tool System for Submillimeter Biomedical Samples

概述（由申请人提供）：优点：总体目标是开发一种低成本的全机械手动机械手和微型工具系统，以满足生物医学研究中对尺寸范围为0.01至1mm的小型生物标本进行动态操作的演示需求。例子包括：解剖植物或动物组织样本的小器官（细胞组合）；从电泳凝胶或部分染色体中分离条带；分类和挑选纳米化石；从复杂环境样品中分离单个小生物，用于基因组分析。目标是产生一个有效的健壮的系统，它将使广泛的用户社区受益，并且是负担得起的。一般的方法是利用商业技术：用于人眼内玻璃体视网膜手术的商业小型工具，包括毫米级的剪刀和各种样式的镊子；金属波纹管，用于驱动微型遥控液压致动器，用于玻璃体视网膜微型工具；受电弓手动微机械手，具有动态操作的特殊优势；使用2个弧形轨迹的可移动底座，将样品和工具放置在球坐标空间的中心，从而允许工具的姿态在大范围的角度上重新定向。这些工具、执行器、操纵器和基座一起将形成一个完整的低成本全机械系统，用于对生物医学研究多个领域的显微标本进行常见的动态操作。价格低于2000美元是一个目标。PI已经开发出一种创新的方法来改进受电弓操纵器，使它们能够减少50倍的手部运动，比目前的设计只允许减少4倍的运动提高10倍。项目管理：PI将执行具体目标#1和6，评估不同风格和品牌的商业玻璃体视网膜仪器提示，并在生物组织上测试产品的功能。评价将纳入最佳产品。目标2、3、4和5涉及设计和制造特定的机械部件，根据本申请中包含的设计，将由商业合同工程公司或俄亥俄大学物理与天文系的校园机械车间执行。更广泛的影响：该项目可能会产生可商业化的专利产品。另一个目标是延长熟练研究人员的职业生涯，这些研究人员可能会失去进行涉及人工操作生物样本的研究的能力，例如随着年龄的增长。该项目将为工程或物理本科生提供有吸引力的跨学科教育和培训机会。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Merits: The general aim is to develop a low-cost all-mechanical manual manipulator & mini-tool system that addresses demonstrated needs in biomedical research for dynamic operations on small biological specimens in the size range of 0.01 to 1 mm. Examples include: dissecting small organs (cell assemblages) of tissue samples from plants or animals; isolating bands from electrophoresis gels, or parts of chromosomes; sorting and picking nanofossils; separation of single small organisms from complex environmental samples, for genomic analysis. The goal is to produce an effective robust system that would benefit a broad user community, and would be affordable. The general approach will be to exploit commercial technologies for: commercial small tools for vitreoretinal surgery inside human eyes, including millimeter-scale scissors & forceps of many styles; metal bellows, to drive a miniature remote control hydraulic actuator for the vitreoretinal mini-tools; pantograph manual micromanipulators, which have special advantages for dynamic operations; and a movable base that uses 2 arc-shaped tracks, places the specimen and tool at the center of a spherical-coordinate space, and thereby allows the pose of a tool to be reoriented over a large range of angles. These tools, actuator, manipulator, and base together will form a complete low-cost all-mechanical system for performing common dynamic operations on microscopic specimens from several realms of biomedical research. A price tag below $2000 is a goal. The PI has developed an innovative approach to improving pantograph manipulators, to make them capable of 50x reduction of hand motion, a >10x improvement over current designs which allow only 4x motion reduction. Project Management: The PI will carry out specific aims #1 & 6, to evaluate different styles & brands of commercial vitreoretinal instrument tips, and to test on biological tissues the functionality of products. Evaluations would be incorporated into optimized products. Aims 2,3,4,&5, involving design and fabrication of specific mechanical parts, according to the designs included in this application, will be carried out by commercial contract engineering firms, or by the on-campus mechanical shop in the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy at Ohio University. Broader Impacts: This project may lead to patentable products that could be commercialized. Another aim is to extend the careers of skilled researchers who may lose the ability to carry out research involving manual manipulation of biological samples, e.g. with age. 7 The project will provide attractive interdisciplinary educational and training opportunities for the engineering or physics undergraduate student to be hired. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: (provided by applicant): This project may lead to patentable products that could be commercialized. Another aim is to extend the careers of skilled researchers who may lose the ability to carry out research involving manual manipulation of biological samples, e.g. with age. The project will provide attractive interdisciplinary educational and training opportunities for the engineering or physics undergraduate student to be hired.