Open Source Lab Instrument with 3D Printed Components Autonomously Monitors Embryos – 3DPrint.com

There are several examples of 3D printed robots being used to help with aquatic research, but never anything quite like the autonomous LabEmbryoCam, developed over the past decade by the University of Plymouth’s EmbryoPhenomics research group. The open-source laboratory instrument uses 3D printed components to form a robotic microscope, which can autonomously monitor and assess the response of aquatic embryos to environmental change.

According to the team’s published study, “the acquisition of high-dimensional data on an individual-wide scale” is known as phenomics, and it is being used in biological research related to human health, such as crop sciences and medicine. Thanks to their small size, ecological relevance, taxonomic diversity, and high levels functional, spatial, and temporal change, the embryos of aquatic species are natural models for this field of study. Research into how environmental conditions impact the earliest stages of life is more important than ever, which is why the team created LabEmbryoCam as an open source project.

The robotic instrument can autonomously monitor the earliest stages of development in aquatic species by tracking embryonic development. Scientists can use the versatile system to measure key features, like heart, developmental, and growth rates, in developing animals, and it enables the visualization and measurement of the biological process in large numbers of embryos at the same time.

Because it’s open source, the hardware and software designs for LabEmbryoCam are freely available in the team’s study, which allows researchers to adapt the phenotyping platform to their own needs.

“We developed the LabEmbryoCam to provide an accessible window on how animals put themselves together, and what impact the environment has on this. It capitalises on enabling technologies such as 3D printing and AI,” explained Dr. Oliver Tills, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Plymouth, founder of the EmbryoPhenomics group, and the study’s senior author. “The LabEmbryoCam is enabling us, and others, to address complex research questions that were not otherwise possible. Our opensource ethos makes the capabilities that are central to our own research available to others.”

Fig. 1 CAD rendering of assembled different versions of the LabEmbryoCam (LEC). A) V1 LEC is built using generic aluminium extrusion and self-supporting brackets, and B) V2 LEC is built using Rexroth aluminium extrusion, blind joints and includes a lid. Dimensions: 450 mm wide, 390 mm deep, 475 mm tall.

The modular system is made up of consumer electronics, stepper motor-enabled motion, single board computers, and FDM 3D printed components, built within an aluminum extrusion framework. It’s a versatile platform, but was first designed and optimized for “timelapse imaging of developing aquatic embryos cultured in a multiwell plate format,” according to the researchers.

“Where practical, 3D printed parts are used, to improve opportunity for innovation, minimising cost and limiting reliance on supply chains,” the team wrote in their study.

One of the great benefits of 3D printing is the ability to create custom equipment, which has been helpful for laboratories and cleanrooms alike. Some of the FDM parts used to make the LabEmbryCam include a 3D printed leafspring mounted on each corner to help reduce the impact of environmental vibration during imaging, and a 3D printed humidification chamber, which helps with the challenge of evaporation during timelapse imaging in multiwell plate formats. All in all, the LabEmbryoCam uses > 100 3D printed parts, and the STL files are available in a Zenodo repository.

Fig. 9 Annotated foot assembly to ensure vibration insulation during operation, integrating a 3D printed leaf spring for insulating lower frequencies, and sorbothane foot for insulating higher frequencies.

“The LabEmbryoCam enables users to apply phenomics during the most dynamic and often sensitive period of life. The instruments are already proving pivotal in understanding how embryos’ function and these responses differ markedly compared to later life,” Dr. Tills said. “This is already proving critical in helping us not only understand the effects of global and ocean warming on individual species, but also to identify species, populations and individuals that are resilient to conditions we are likely to see on our planet in the future.”

The team behind the LabEmbryoCam set up a dedicated phenomics facility for these instruments to support the research of the EmbryoPhenomics group. This has allowed for the simultaneous screening of more than 3,000 embryos to help with global research challenges. Plus, in addition to licensing the system as open source, the researchers are selling it via Phenomyx CIC, a Community Interest Company that works to support researchers who apply phenomics approaches to studying developing animals. The instrument has already been sold to clients in the UK and the US, with components 3D printed and assembled at Phenomyx CIC’s base at Plymouth Science Park.

“The EmbryoPhenomics group recognise that not everybody has the time, facilities or inclination to build their own hardware, and this is one of the barriers hindering the uptake of open-source technologies,” the website states.

“Consequently, they now offer the opportunity for interested parties to buy the LabEmbryoCam directly from them, as an assembled instrument.”

Additionally, University of Plymouth researchers brought the LabEmbryoCam on an expedition to the Indian Ocean, in order to support research into the early stages of life in the Christmas Island red crab.