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Current Cellular and Molecular Medicine Lab Equipment for Live Cell Imaging
Temperature Stage Controller
Spring 2018 MAE 156B Sponsored Project
University of California, San Diego
Team: Xiaowei Zuo, Vincent Tirasongkran, David Voong, Chenguang Wu
Sponsored by: Haiyang Yu, UCSD Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Background
Background
Live-cell microscopy is the process of observing living cells under a microscope. While imaging the cells, it is important to keep the cells within their typical environment to observe normal cell behavior and gain a better understanding of their natural biological functions. One application of live-cell microscopy, as in the case for the project's sponsor, Dr. Haiyang Yu, could be for the study of cancer cells.
The goal of this project is to design a cell incubator for applications in live-cell microscopy. The incubator must be a controlled chamber that keeps the cells within the typical environmental parameters that they're found in (for this case, similar to within the human body). The incubator must also fit on a microscope to allow for observation within this controlled environment.
The image below is one of the current setups used to create the proper environment for observing cells. The cells and the entire microscope are kept in a controlled chamber that provides temperature, CO2, and humidity. The current setup has a few issues that do not make it ideal for live-cell imaging. The enclosure can take 2 hours to reach the desired temperature of 37°C. When the system does reach 37°C, it's not very stable. The instability in the temperature causes parts of the microscope to expand and contract due to different material thermal expansion coefficients, and thus causes the image to go in and out of focus.
Left: Example of a stage controller set-up on the market
Right: Stage controller mounted on a microscope
Objectives
The objective of this project is to construct an enclosure for select microscope sample slides/cultures that can keep the samples at 37 degrees Celsius, 5% CO2 air concentration, and 95% humidity. The system would primarily consist of a microscope mountable sample enclosure, adapters for different kinds of microscope samples, and a heating element. Secondary concerns involve CO2 and humidity controllers due to their potential complexity. The enclosure helps to facilitate the environment required by the samples by trapping heat within and containing 5% CO2 and 95% humidity air that will be constantly circulated. The adapters help facilitate quick interchangeability for specimen samples as the user(s) of the microscope and stage mount will no doubt be observing a multitude of specimens with the project setup.
Final Design (Internals):
Final Design (External):
The temperature control system is the primary system that the project is concerned with. Through a PID controller and a temperature and humidity sensor, heat provided by compact heating fans into the sample enclosure is controlled to be maintained near 37 degrees Celsius. The system relies on feedback from the temperature sensor to control both the fan speed and temperature of the heating elements.
CAD Animation:
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