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Core Instrumentation Module

Scope

The Instrumentation Core supports the research of CVS faculty with needs in electronics and mechanics in a wide range of projects, ranging from stand-alone systems, to assisting the imaging and computer modules in the development of lab-based instruments for imaging, electrophysiology and psychophysics. The core works with investigators to define, review and consult on electro-mechanical projects and provides continuing support, debugging, and replication of already existing technologies.

Leadership

Michele Rucci

Michele Rucci
Director

Juliette McGregor

Juliette McGregor
Associate Director

Staff

Dan Guarino

Dan Guarino
Mechanical Engineer

Jeffrey Ince

Jeffrey Ince
Senior Research Engineer

James Oliver

James Oliver
Senior Research Engineer

Facilities and Resources

The Instrumentation Module offers:

  1. CAD-assisted 3-D printing
  2. Machining
  3. Design, assembly and troubleshooting of electronic circuits and systems
  4. Component level circuit design
  5. Programming of microcontrollers
  6. Digital signal processing approaches ahd field programmable gate array (FPGA) control

Research Enabled by the Module

These are some examples of developments in the Instrumentation Core supporting a wide range of CVS research:

  1. Implementation of sensors of physiological responses (e.g. visual evoked potentials) to be collected in parallel with retinal imaging data
  2. Design and custom-built animal-specific hardware, such as skull-conforming mounts and microdrives, to accommodate multi-electrode arrays and optical devices. These developments have allowed estimating motion and self-motion perception based on large-scale, simultaneous recordings from neural populations in multiple species of behaving primates
  3. Engineering of high speed, multiple sensor operations for the stabilization of eye movements
  4. Building and support for lasers, LED stimuli, Digital Micromirror Devices, and other opto-electronic and opto-mechanical components in high resolution imaging systems, advanced wavefront sensors and adaptive optics visual simulator
  5. Developed and deployment of shared technologies and expertise in intra- and extra-mural collaborations (e.g virtual-reality laboratories)

Instrumentation Module In Numbers

  • Contributed to 171 publications
  • To be used by 15 of the 21 participating investigators in the next funding period