Winning the Rat Race


The term 'rat race' has been described as a "seemingly pointless or endless pursuit". The work of today's research scientist is hardly pointless but one aspect of the work, while not endless, was a tedious pursuit.  We are describing the work of researchers charged with the task of  observing and documenting the behavior of mice in lab settings. The job was to watch and score lengthy video recordings of the creature's every move.  That was until Jessie Brodkin came up with an idea that he has described as "thinking inside the box". 



Brodkin's creation is The Behavioral Spectrometer

(http://behavioralinstruments.com), a humane device that captures everything your mouse does without having to watch and score hours of video recordings.  Brodkin found Sigma Design Company and its team of mechanical design engineers for the job.  Sigma designed, tested and now manufactures this 'mouse house', The Behavioral Spectrometer, right here in NJ.  The job required advanced engineering analysis and skills to incorporate LED lighting, vibrations sensors, and isolation dampers. It has the capability of using advanced video and vibration analysis to record the most detailed description of mouse behavior ever.     



Brodkin's 'made in NJ' product has met with huge success in the research and pharmaceutical world. The Behavioral Spectrometer is used by Rutgers University's Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Pfizer, and other global RD laboratories for the development of new treatments and drugs. The latest 4 systems were just shipped to a RD laboratory in Austria.  To read customer articles and references:

http://behavioralinstruments.com/references



This is another success story showing Sigma Design Company's ability to provide manufacturing engineering and product development services to people like you. Sigma Design is your single source engineering and manufacturing resource for new products and specialty machinery.



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