Affiliated Labs
In addition to our VA labs, the APT Center partners with surrounding hospitals and universities to collaborate on research and help make greater strides in the development of assistive technology. Below are some of our affiliated labs:
Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Reliability Center (AMMRC)
The Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Reliability Center (AMMRC) was established in 1987 under the direction of APT Investigator Dr. John Lewandowski to provide advanced manufacturing (e.g., deformation processing, extrusion, forming, etc.) and mechanical characterization (e.g. mechanical testing, reliability testing, fatigue, etc.) expertise to the CWRU campus, medical, industrial, legal, outside university, and government laboratory communities. The center, housed in the Charles M. White Metallurgy building, currently maintains equipment valued in excess of $5.5M and has been accessed by the local, national, and international communities.
Biologically Inspired Robotics Laboratory (BIRL)
The Biologically Inspired Robotics Laboratory (BIRL) is directed by APT Investigator Dr. Roger Quinn and consists of a total of 3300 square feet of laboratories, shops and offices including the Design Studio, Autonomous Robots Lab, Legged Robots Lab, Additive Manufacturing Lab, and Machining Center. The Design Studio includes PCs and Macs with CAD/CAM, modeling, analysis and simulation software and desks for students. The Machining Center includes three CNC machines (ranging from tabletop size to a large floor standing unit). Manual machines include a Bridgeport Mill and Birmingham Lathe. The Additive Manufacturing Lab includes facilities to fabricate components from carbon fiber composite materials. A compressed air facility has been installed to operate our pneumatic robots. A control system has been developed for robots using the RT Linux operating system and LabView. In addition, the lab contains an automated treadmill (5 feet by 6 feet) for testing mobile robots. Robots designed and fabricated in our labs include many soft robots, legged robots, multiple Whegs UGVs and two autonomous snowplows.
The lab includes 15 PCs and Macs with MatLab, LabView, AnimatLab, Finite Element Analysis and CAD software for control development, modeling, design and analysis. Other computer tools include custom software for analyzing animals and designing robots. All computers are linked to the University Casenet gigabit fiber optic network.
Our laboratory has access to a Higher Performance Computing Center with 300 compute servers with more than 4,400 CPU cores, 165,000 GPU cores, and approximately 305 terabytes of high-speed parallel storage. This allows us to run parallel computational tasks requiring hundreds of simultaneous processes. Assistive services are available to optimize use of the cluster.
BioMicroSystems Laboratory
The BioMicroSystems Laboratory is located in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at CWRU and is directed by APT Investigator Dr. Pedram Mohseni, Enabling Technologies Program Manager for the APT Center. This 600 sq. ft. testing lab focuses on developing wireless integrated circuits and microsystems for a variety of applications in biomedical and neural engineering. The laboratory contains several PC computers, software packages for design, simulation, and layout of high-performance, low-noise, analog/mixed-signal/RF circuits and systems, and testing/measurement equipment such as DC power supply, arbitrary function generator, multichannel mixed-signal oscilloscope, data acquisition hardware, spectrum analyzer, potentiostat, and current source meter.
Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD)
The research activity of the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD) has two main tracks: the role of sensory cilia in cellular mechanosensation and optical probes of matter. Experimental tools used include epithelial cell culture and electrophysiology, microscopy and laser tweezers, microfluidics, and analytical modeling. Biological systems under investigation include renal and airway epithelial tissue to study the connection between fluid flow stimulation and physiological responses in the context of tissue maintenance and repair.
Emerging Materials Development and Evaluation (EMDE) Laboratory
The Emerging Materials Development and Evaluation (EMDE) Laboratory complements the capabilities of the MFL. Back-end processing steps and microdevice evaluation can be performed in the EMDE Laboratory under the direction of APT Investigator Dr. Christian Zorman. This lab is equipped with tooling useful in characterizing materials for MEMS applications. The laboratory contains a PC-based apparatus for load deflection and burst testing of micromachined membranes, a custom-built test chamber for evaluation and reliability testing of MEMS-based pressure transducers and other membrane-based devices, a probe station for electrical characterization of micro-devices, a fume hood configured for wet chemical etching of Si, polymers, and a wide variety of metals, tooling for electroplating, an optical reflectometer, and a supercritical point dryer for release of surface micromachined devices. The lab also has a PC with layout and finite element modeling software for device design, fabrication process design and analysis of testing data. Of particular interest are a Laser Micromachining System and an RIE Plasma System for patterning or etching materials, modifying surface properties, and cleaning substrates. These tools are critical for the fabrication of polymer-based implantable and non-implantable devices. The Parylene Deposition System in this laboratory has particular relevance to the development novel medical devices. Pacemaker leads, guide wires, catheters, and electrical surgical tools are coated with parylene for electrical insulation and lubricous coating.
Neural Engineering Center (NEC)
The Neural Engineering Center (NEC) is a coordinated group of scientists and engineers dedicated to research and education in an area at the interface between neuroscience and engineering. They share the common goal of analyzing the function of the nervous system, developing methods to restore damaged neurological function, and creating artificial neuronal systems by integrating physical, chemical, mathematical, biological and engineering tools.
The center provides core facilities in tissue culture, microscopy and histology. The center facilities also include an electrode fabrication laboratory, surgical suite for acute and sterile surgery, staffed by two full time animal technicians. The center also holds several laboratories in neural regeneration, neural interfacing, neural prosthetics, materials for neural interfacing computer modeling, prototyping, and in-vitro electrophysiology. The students, research associates and faculty can carry out research at many levels starting from cellular and molecular to animal experimentation and into the clinic.
Rehabilitation with Insight from Robotics and Engineering (Rewire) Lab
The Rehabilitation with insight from robotics and engineering (Rewire) Lab, located in the MetroHealth Medical Center, is part of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at MetroHealth and Case Western Reserve University. The lab focuses on improving the well-being of those affected by neurological injury via technology, including robotics, biomechanics and neurophysiology. Current research applications include post-stroke gait, mobility and interaction aids for children with disability, and environmental enrichment for acquired brain injury survivors.
Soft Machine and Electronics (SME) Lab
The Soft Machine and Electronics (SME) Lab focuses on revealing the fundamental mechanics and physics of advanced materials, and on designing and fabricating novel soft robots and electronics using advanced technologies to address grand challenges in healthcare, manufacturing, energy, agriculture, sustainability, and space exploration.
Urologic Biomechanics Laboratory at Cleveland Clinic
The Urologic Biomechanics Laboratory at the Cleveland Clinic is primarily designed to assess in vivo bladder and urethral biomechanics. It is directed by APT Investigator Dr. Margot Damaser. One room is fully outfitted for rodent survival surgeries, in vivo testing procedures, and urological behavioral studies, including bladder catheter implantation, conscious and anesthetized urodynamics testing, nerve and muscle stimulation, and electrophysiological recordings. This room contains a urological and electrophysiological testing system, consisting of metabolic cages, force and pressure transducers, electrodes, amplifiers, a stimulation pulse generator, and an Astromed computerized digital data collection system. In addition, there is a surgical microscope, a dissecting microscope, refrigerators, a −70°C freezer, and a −20°C freezer. The main Urological Biomechanics Laboratory is outfitted for biological research and contains cellular and molecular biology equipment including a centrifuge, microcentrifuges, an incubator, a cryostat, an RT-PCR machine, as well as an Olympic light microscope and a Zeiss fluorescence microscope, each with a camera and computerized image analysis system. Computers are outfitted with MATLAB, LabVIEW and other data collection, data analysis, and mathematical modeling systems. Common research equipment available in near proximity include an ultracentrifuge, cold rooms, liquid nitrogen, dry ice, fume hoods, and cell culture facilities.
UZ-Lab
The UZ-Lab@CSU is based in the Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Department of Cleveland State University and operates in collaboration with the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic. The lab addresses challenges in life sciences and medicine by examining material structure-property relationships, studying material-cell and cell-cell interactions to mimic tissue architectures, controlling cellular behavior and enabling therapeutic treatments. Its research combines materials science, membrane science, biology and nanotechnology to achieve these goals.
