Below are some examples of projects conceived, developed and implemented by the
TSG in concert with faculty in the Department of Psychology
Food and Liquid Intake Monitoring System
Designed and constructed for Neuroscience Faculty member
Dr. James C. Smith, this unit houses and has provisions
for 8 rats. This system monitors liquid licking behavior as well as food consumption on a
meal-to-meal basis. Food monitoring is achieved with a unique load beam system and is a
real time food consumption monitor with a resolution of 10 mg. This information is passed
on to an online data collection computer and is later analyzed by software written
specifically for this system by
Don Donaldson of
the TSG.
Computer Controlled Fluid Delivery System
Developed for Neuroscience Faculty member
Dr. Robert Contreras to facilitate studying the
sense of taste in rats. The system is used to deliver a precise mixture of liquid
compounds to the tongue during electrophysiological recording measurements taken from
nerves innervating the tongue. Fluids are pumped from 8 syringes to a non-contaminating
mixing valve at a controlled rate (usually totaling 50 ul/sec). After mixing, the fluid is
brought to a controlled temperature of 0 to 50 degrees Celsius by a Peltier thermoelectric
device before delivery to the tongue. The entire process is computer controlled allowing
automatic sequencing of temperature, compound, and concentration presentation. The mixing
valve and thermoelectric temperature controller were designed and built specifically for
this application, while the computer interface micro-stepping motor controllers and pumps
were adapted from prior developments in the FSU Neuroscience Program.
Environmental-metabolic chambers were designed
and constructed for Neuroscience Faculty member
Dr.
Michael Rashotte. These chambers are used in the study of metabolic activities and
ingestive behavior with pigeons. They include features such as:
* temperature: computer controlled schedule of temperature in the
range of 0 to 35 degrees Celsius. * O2 and CO2 consumption and production to measure amount and type of energy metabolism. * body temperature monitoring via telemetry measurement every 30 seconds on a 24 hour
basis, with resolution on .01 degrees Celsius. * heart rate and EMG data. * water and food dispensing systems. * water and food consumption data. * online data collection and chamber control computer
The data collected with this system is stored and analyzed with
in-house software that was written specifically for this system.
