Electrophysiology data acquisition for academic neurobiology labs
Turnkey hardware-software system for measuring action potentials from cultured neurons, eliminating the need for researchers to build custom electronics or operate expensive commercial rigs.
The problem
Biologists without an electronics background need to record activity from cultured neurons and have no accessible path to the equipment. They end up improvising from hobbyist components they half understand, or going without, because commercial systems are priced for institutions rather than individual labs and their acquisition software is closed and hard to integrate with modern analysis pipelines.
Who has it: Academic neurobiology labs with <5 electrophysiology rigs, annual budgets $50k–$500k, at US R1 universities and smaller research institutions
Why now: Open-source microcontroller boards (STM32, RP2040) are now powerful enough for real-time electrophysiology filtering. Low-cost high-gain amplifier ICs (OPA2333, INA128) have matured. Python ecosystem (SciPy, h5py, Neo) has standardized neuroscience data formats. NIH and NSF now fund open-hardware initiatives; labs have budget for turnkey systems but not for commercial-grade rigs.
Where this came from
2 public sources behind this idea.
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