PiRMA: A low-cost rodent physiology monitoring bed for pre-clinical experiments

Summary

The aim of this project is the development and implementation of a low-cost rodent physiology monitor which is suitable for a wide range of animal experiments and imaging applications. Parameters such as Heart Rate (HR), Respiratory Rate (RR), and Temperature will be presented to the user and can be fed (via an interface) into other systems. These include Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) which often require gating information such as HR and RR to reduce motion artefacts. The rodents (primarily mice) will be placed in a bed which contains all the required sensors therefore removing the need for any further setup by the user. The bed will be designed to be compatible with scenarios ranging from anesthesia induction to image acquisition. Existing solutions are in the cost range of several thousand pounds and do not support the holistic workflow required in animal experiments.

Hackster Project Documentation

The Team

Marcel Gehrung* CRUK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge; mg858@cam.ac.uk
Marcel is a German Masters student studying for six months in Cambridge. He has a background in programming, machine learning, molecular biology, and animal experiments. Therefore, he will help to build the system and cover the biological validation of physiological parameters.

Dominick McIntyre CRUK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge; Dominick.McIntyre@cruk.cam.ac.uk
Dom is Head of the Imaging Core Facility at the CRUK Cambridge Institute. He has wide expertise with various imaging modalities and will therefore help with design compatibility and implementation of the monitoring system in multiple imaging scenarios.

Lina Hacker CRUK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge; linahacker91@googlemail.com
Lina is also a German Masters student studying for six months in Cambridge. Her background is in tissue engineering, molecular medicine, and bioinformatics. She is highly experienced in animal handling and will contribute to the bed design and implementation into animal experiment scenarios such as anesthesia induction.