Openx Custom Solutions

CellScale has been building custom equipment for for almost 20 years. Our team can deliver a reliable system for your research needs on time and on budget. Our end-to-end support ensures years of productivity. If you need a custom test solution please contact us to discuss your specific needs and goals.

Active Pressure/Volume Control for Lung Research

Asthma, emphysema, COVID-19 and other diseases lead to changes in conducting pulmonary volume, viscoelasticity, and air flow distribution. To study these effects, Prof. Mona Eskandari at UC Riverside partnered with CellScale to design and build custom equipment.

Measuring Lung Volume During Inflation/Deflation

A moving piston was used to move a closed volume of air into and out of the lungs. As the pressure distribution within the lung is not necessarily uniform, it was not sufficient to measure the volume of air that flowed into the lungs. Instead, the lungs were placed in a sealed container. The displaced volume needed maintain atmospheric pressure in the chamber was therefore equal to the change in lung volume.

A System for Mice and a System for Pigs

The second challenge was to develop 2 separate systems that could run at much different scales. Pig lungs inflate by several liters while mouse lungs only inflate by several milliliters. The design of the pig lung system proved to be the most challenging due to the high flow rates involved.

Intra-Ocular Lens Testing

Our customer was interested in testing the mechanical performance of new lens designs (standard ISO 11979-3). In addition to the force and displacement data, they wanted multi-angle image data for qualitative observation. CellScale was able to meet their needs with a MicroTester system with 2 axis imaging and custom fixtures.

The tests involved compressing the protrusions (called haptics) while measuring force and displacement. Note the main components: 3 axis precision motion stages (1, green), overhead imaging system (2, blue), and axial imaging system (3, green).

High Throughput Micro-Mechanical Testing

A research group at the University of Toronto needed a system to tension test biological fibers cultured horizontally in a 96 well plate.  CellScale was able to reorient the MicroTester system to achieve these objectives.

Mechanical Stimulation of Retinal Tissue

A research group at Lund University needed a method for applying mechanical stimulation to delicate retinal tissues.  As an additional challenge, the researchers wanted to be able to capture images of the specimen during stimulation. CellScale and Lund were able to develop a custom specimen holder that met their testing needs and allowed them to use an existing MechanoCulture B1 test frame.  

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