1. Controlled Scanning of Microtiter Plates through the Use of LabVIEW® Erica Chin Anton Edmund Samir Laoui May 14, 2008

2. Topics to be Discussed Background Goals of Project Project Responsibilities Project Timetable Project Results – Front Panel – Block Diagrams – Test Results Discussion Recommendations Conclusions

3. Microtiter Plate Standard tool in analytical research and clinical diagnostic testing laboratories Contains 6, 24, 96, 384 or 1536 sample wells arranged in a rectangular matrix Each well typically holds liquids of up to 200 microliters Designed to be disposable and usually made of plastic

4. Use of Microtiter Plate Antibody-antigen binding can be detected Can detect specific biological, chemical or physical events in samples stored in these plates

5. Commercial Microtiter Plate Scanners High-intensity lamp passes light to microtiter well Light emitted by reaction is quantified by detector Detection modes: absorbance, fluorescence, and luminescence

6. LabVIEW Overview LabVIEW: Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench LabVIEW is commonly used for data acquisition, instrument control, and industrial automation One benefit of LabVIEW is the extensive support for accessing instrumentation hardware

7. APT Stepper Motor Controller Manufactured by Thorlabs Can be configured for two or three channels of operation Excellent low speed performance and positioning stability

8. APT Configuration Utility Configure system parameters and configuration settings Convenient way to make system wide adjustments Necessary to enter control unit specifications Can be set for simulation mode for testing purpose

9. Goals of the Project Automated scanning – Pre-defined parameters for scanning Manual scanning – Operator can set process parameters Data Acquisition

10. Project Responsibilities Anton – block diagram for actual scanning Erica – block diagram for direction, moving speed, acceleration Samir – precision requirement for scanning  Different sections for the reports and presentations were assigned to each group member, but the work of each member was compiled together in a cohesive manner.

11. Project Timetable WeekDatePlan 52/27Project presentation 1, revise report 1, intial LabVIEW work. 63/05Written report 1, continue initial LabVIEW work. 73/12Work on individual responsibilities for automated scanning and gather block diagrams and front panel for each part of project. Start initial work for manual scanning. 83/19 93/26 104/02Complete automated scanning and prepare for project presentation 2, continue work on manual scanning. 114/09Project presentation 2 and prepare report 2. 124/16Written report 2, revise automated scanning block diagrams and front panel and continue working on manual scanning. 134/23Revise manual scanning block diagrams and front panel and start preparing for final presentation and report, debug LabVIEW code. 144/30Debug LabVIEW code. 155/08Debug LabVIEW code, finish preparing for final presentation and report. 165/14Final presentation and report.

12. Front Panel User interface that contains controls and indicators Controls – Knobs – Push buttons – Dials – File selection – Exit button for disaster recovery Indicators – Graphs – LEDs – Data display

13. Front Panel

14. Main VI Components 1. Idle state 2. Intensity Map 3. Step Motor A 4. Step Motor B 5. Display of Scanned Well 6. Home Position 7. Speed and Scan Interval 8. Load Position 9. Precision

15. Block Diagram of Main VI Each of the main VI can be called individually from the front panel even though they are stacked together Each VI has been built with multi-layer or sub-VI Example: Motor control A MT sub-VI built with several sub-VIs (get SN, set SN, start MT ctrl) error sub-VI and command sub- VI

16. Motor References Pre-set motor references but user can change settings

17. 1. Intensity Map

18. Intensity Plot

19. 2. Step Motor A

20. 3. Step Motor B

21. 4. Display of Scanned Well Scanned well will be displayed via graph with its XY coordination Time stamp will be displayed for scanned time

22. Home Position Allows user to reset to initial position of (0,0) Both controllers need to be initialized before starting the program

23. Home Position Block Diagram

24. Speed and Acceleration Automated scanning – preset Manual scanning – defined

25. Set Running State

26. Load Position Resume scanning after pausing Load position and precision can be controlled from front panel

27. 8. Precision

28. Data Acquisition Data will be stored at user defined location in text (lvm) format

29. Test Results Stages configuration – NTR100E Enc Stage A, 100mm (Serial No 90811662) into Channel 1 – NTR150E Enc Stage B, 150mm (Serial No 90811663) into Channel 2

30. Manual Scanning Motor can be initiated by adding correct serial number from the front panel After a few seconds, sub-VI of motor control will be displayed This is an ActiveX component of LabVIEW From this faceplate, speed, scan interval, direction, home, and jog sequence can be controlled

31. Manual Scanning Results Useful information through error code panel No error was observed Manual scanning was successful

32. Automatic Scanning Motors A and B have to be activated or initialized - It moves its predefined speed with preset interval - It works without interruption but with 10003 error code - Error was send to THORLABS to be investigated

33. Automatic Scanning

34. Initial Position and Optimize Position LabVIEW was terminated with this error message These commands are not operating because of lack of hardware component

35. Discussion Manual scanning can be controlled via front panel In order to perform automated scanning, two channel step motors are required Automated scanning was not executed successfully due to lack of hardware component USB connections are not the ideal set up for high sensitive scanning ActiveX component for THORLABS in LabVIEW doesn’t work 100% Similar discrepancy has been observed in Analog Device’s BLACKFIN communication with LabVIEW

36. Recommendations Need to have the all the components prior to LabVIEW programming in order to avoid unnecessary LabVIEW coding and debugging Initiate both channels for auto-connection Avoid USB connections

37. Conclusions Although we do not have appropriate hardware for automated scanning, manual scanning work as desired By using our program, microtiter plates can be scanned for biosensor applications Further testing is necessary with all hardware components