BIOENGINEERING LABORATORY: EQUIPMENT
Instron 5543 Material Testing System: An electromechanical materials testing system and integrated software for digital test control and data collection. Capable of uniaxial tests up to 1kN force with a crosshead travel range of 917mm and travel speed range from 0.05 to 1000 mm/min. Variety of compatible load cells from 5N to 1kN allows for accurate measurements.
Instron 5542 Material Testing Systems: Two electromechanical materials testing systems analogous to the 5543, but with a maximum force capacity of 500N.
Instron 5848 MicroTesters: Two electromechanical materials testing systems and integrated software for digital test control and data collection. Capable of dynamic (up to 1500 mm/min) and quasistatic uniaxial tests up to 2kN force. Compatible load cells of 10N and 50N.
Instron 8874 Material Testing System: A servohydraulic, biaxial material testing system with integrated software for test control and data acquisition. Capable of biaxial tests up to 25kN force and 100N-m torsion with an actuator travel range of 100mm and 270 degrees. The servohydraulic system is useful for high-speed cyclic and high-load mechanical tests.
Thickness measurement device: Near frictionless LVDT probe and platform apparatus capable of directly measuring sample thickness down to 0.01 mm.
Laser area measurement device: Moveable stages allow a specimen to be translated underneath a CCD laser for non-contact measurements of geometry down to 0.016 mm. Readings of x- and y- position as well as thickness are collected and viewed in real time using custom software. Data can be exported for calculation of specimen cross-sectional area and surface reconstruction.
Machine Shop: Working area for manufacturing of fixtures for research. Includes a Bridgeport Mill machine, lathe, drill press, band saw, and numerous small hand and power tools and related accessories. Area can be used to manufacture necessary fixtures from almost all types of metal, wood, or plastic.
Computer Network: The lab's workstations and printers are incorporated into the University of Pennsylvania Health System local area network. The over 70 PC computers in the lab were either newly purchased or upgraded and run on Windows XP. The majority of the workstations contain at least a Pentium 4 processor, 20 GB Hard Drive, 256 MB of RAM, and a CD-RW drive. Several workstations contain dual processors, DVD-RW drives, and an external drive for reading CompactFlash digital camera cards. There is also a DVD-ROM archiving station for backing up and archiving research data.
Multimedia Station: One PC based system with imaging and presentation software, a Montage slide maker, HP flatbed scanner, and Dimage slide scanner. This system allows users to incorporate images and text from almost any source into a presentation or publication and then create slides or print transparencies of the finished product. A second Montage slide maker is linked to a Macintosh for presentations created in the Macintosh format.
Video Capability: A large array of video and camera equipment including: color and black/white CCD video camera backs (both NTSC and PAL formats), large variety of lenses for high magnification and wide angle views, as well as several lens filters. These cameras can be integrated with several different types of available monitors, computers, and VCRs to record research activities.
Photography Equipment: Canon Powershot S2 IS digital camera. Also available is a Polaroid camera. This equipment is used to take pictures of surgeries and dissections for use in presentations and publications.
Dissection Room: Large room equipped with countertops and overhead surgical lighting fixtures suitable for dissections and preparations of biological specimens. Contains a wide range of surgical instruments such as blade holders, hemostats, retractors, ronguers, osteotomes, scissors, and forceps. Also available are specialty power tools such as Zimmer air drills, surgitomes, and oscillators which are fully sterilizable for use in animal surgery and 'clean' dissections. Other cordless power and hand tools are available for dissection and specimen preparation. In addition, a full array of orthopaedic surgery tools, devices, and accessories are available.
Scientific Freezer: Controlled temperature, 1300L freezer capable of sustaining internal temperatures down to -30oC. Additional freezers, including those with capabilities down to -80oC are available.
Nikon Dissecting Stereomicroscope: Allows stereo magnification for dissection/surgical work. Magnifies from 5.6-36.9 times with a working distance of 117mm and a 6-42mm field of view. Also contains a port for video device or camera mounting to image specimens or display surgical work. Illumination is via a heatless fiber-optic lightsource.
Leica Dissecting Stereomicroscope: Allows stereo magnification for dissection/surgical work. Contains a ball-bearing boom stand for easy and accurate positioning of optics. Magnifies from 4-25.2 times with a working distance of 149mm and a 8.3-52.9mm field of view. Illumination is via a heatless fiber-optic lightsource.
Planar Microscope: Stage microscope for planar viewing of slides at high magnification. Wide range of optics allow for magnifications from 10-1000 times. Contains a port for video device or camera mounting to image specimens.
Gross Morphology Station: System for capturing and analyzing digital images from various microscopes, video systems, and cameras. Includes: a positioning device for precise placement of imaging equipment and/or specimens, PC imaging station with a frame grabber capable of 30 frames/second high resolution color imaging, and multiple software tools for image analysis and display.
Vacuum Oven: Allows reliable heating of samples in a controlled environment from 0-100 kPa.
X-ray Room: Five degree-of-freedom tube placement system with a generator for imaging bone and other tissues. Generator capable of 40-125kV@25-500mA of high-frequency power with a 5millisecond timer. Tube has a focal spot of 0.3-1.2 mm for high-resolution imaging of small specimen areas. This system also includes a film processor for on site development of hard copy images.
The Konica Medical Film Processor is a fully automatic x-ray film developer capable of handling various widths up to 43 cm. It continuously pump developer and fixer from respective reservoirs. The processor automatically adjusts to set drying temperature.
High-resolution imaging: A Kodak Megaplus 4.2i charged coupled device (CCD) camera with a pixel array of 2000 x 2000 provides outstanding resolution. This black and white camera has 10-bit digital output, providing a dynamic range of 1024 levels of gray. It can be used with a variety of lenses for optical strain analysis during mechanical testing or with a microscope for structural and histological analyses.
Diamond Band Saw: This lab-bench size band saw provides efficient cutting of virtually any material, including hard steels, soft polymers, and brittle materials. Samples can be fed by hand or guided with the specimen guide, and the motor is powerful enough to cut quickly without bogging down. The saw blade is diamond plated steel core. In this lab, the saw is used to precisely cut vertebral bodies to create bone-disc-bone units for mechanical testing of the intervertebral disc.
Leica DMLP Pol Microscope: A light microscope used for polarized light and conventional microscopic techniques. This microscope is coupled with an image analysis system recently developed in our lav to quantitatively determine the two-dimensional collagern fiber orientation in soft tissures. The microscope is equipped with centerable pol objectives (5x, 10x, 20x, and 40x), a vernier high precision rotatable analyzer, a rotatable polarizer, a rotatable compensator (full wave plate or Brace-Kohler), a bandpass interference filter, and a QImaging MicroPublisher 5.0 MP digital microcope camera.
Freeze Dry System: The Labconco FreeZone 4.5 Liter Freeze Dry System is designed for laboratory lyophilization procedures. Capable of removing water from frozen tissues by directly converting the frozen water into its vapor without the intermediate formation of liquid water.
Sample preparation: A Leica SM2400 Sledge Microtome, equipped with a Physitemp freezing stage, allows for preparation of soft tissue mechanical test samples of uniform thickness.
