Week 5

Updates on my two projects.


Sensor project:

This last week was incredibly productive! So the grad student I am working with, developed an arduino code based off of some code that was already accessible online. However with his good understanding of code writing, he altered and added various functions to the code that made it work specifically for our project.  I did't really contribute much in this part of the project, as the programming was over my head. However, once completed, the grad student explained to me how the code worked as a whole and how each line of the code functioned.

Essentially, all the code does is take the amount of breaths taken in 5 seconds and multiplies that           number by 12 giving amount of breaths per minute (as there are 60 seconds in a minute). So every 5 seconds a new breath rate is spit out. Another part of the code is that the last 5 breath rate readings are always averaged. so every 5 seconds an immediate breath rate as well as an average of the last 25 seconds is given. As of right now this information is just fed into a computer but the goal is to get his information on a tiny screen and then stored on a memory chip. 

Following, we constructed a board on which the circuit, a 9V battery, the arduino and the piezo (breath rate sensor) are attached (later the screen and the memory chip will also be added.) We took this setup along with some wires, cables,  and a wave detector, and tested in a real experiment. * And guess what........ It worked essentially FLAWLESSLY.

We put the piezo underneath a anesthetized rat. The rate had a steady breath rate of 48 (and we knew this how? our code and circuit!) and when the rat would be given a slightly higher dose of the drug the heart rate would increase, again seen through out setup. IT was truly incredible to see our project work so well.

So the goal for this week is to assemble a screen and integrate it along with a memory chip into our setup and code. Once that's done we are incredibly close to the final product.

* As this experiment felt with animals, I wasn't able to actively do anything. I primarily, stood back and watched the experiment take its course, all the while enjoying our product. :D


Electrode project:

This project isn't quite as productive as the other one. This one, to me, is also more difficult. So this Wednesday I am meeting someone in the electron microscopy lab again. This time I am bringing the coated electrodes, though to actually see if the coating has stuck to the platinum electrodes. I am having a hard time coating them, tomorrow however I will receive help form another grad student so hopefully I'll have the electrodes in time.



***As my grad student and I have made far more advancements on the breath rate sensor project, I will be primarily focusing on that project in my presentation at the end of the school year, but I will dedicate a fair amount of time to the other one as well. Just in case you were interested. ***