Welcome biomedical community - let's share.

[Steve.J]

Welcome to the Biomedical Users Group!  I'm an NI employee with a keen interest in the application of our tools to problems in biomedical research and medical device design.  Much of my industry background (some 20+ years) has been involved in the design and development of products used in both research and for clinical applications, primarily in the neurosciences.  Back in the '90s I was a customer of NI's and was able to successfully develop a commercial data acquisition and analysis tool built on LabVIEW.  The success of that product led to a more ambitious clinical EEG system that successfully achieved FDA clearance - perhaps the first LabVIEW application to jump that hurdle.

Today we see many amazing applications of LabVIEW and other NI technology in biomedical applications ranging from automated cellular imaging and sorting, to laser eye surgery, to minimally invasive surgical devices and even medical robotics.  The natural strengths of LabVIEW to work with real signals, perform complex processing, and display results in intuitive and innovative ways is a perfect fit in this world.  Coupled with the truly game changing performance and reliability of FPGA technology and LabVIEW becomes a single tool that can truly span the needs of the whole biomedical engineering and scientific community.

With the help of this forum I help that we can build an active community of experts, novices, veterans, skeptics, champions, and everything in between.  This is a great way to for you to share ideas, solve problems, find related products, express frustration, show off your latest success, or maybe even make some connections.

So let's share - what are you doing with NI tools and technology?

[jstevens]

LabVIEW and CompactRIO form an ideal framework for medical device research development.  I learned about those products while at my previous employer, Sanarus Medical, where I used them for Sanarus' Visica 2 tumor treatment device.  LabVIEW is so intuitive, and CompactRIO so powerful, that I had a fully functioning prototype of the final product working on the bench within 4 months of project onset.  And that 4 months included time for me to learn LabVIEW, which I had never seen before joining Sanarus.  We had FDA market clearance and Visica 2 serial number 00001 in the field generating revenue within 14 months of project onset!  This was with a team of just 4 guys, a Systems Engineer turned coder (me :-), a Mechanical Engineer, a Supertech, and a Project Manager.

Now I'm doing a similar thing at Cabochon Aesthetics, except that this new project involves a lot more research than development at this point.  However, Cabochon quickly recognized the power of LabVIEW + cRIO, so we have a cRIO in the lab to run all sorts of spur-of-the-moment investigations.  I have code that generates arbitrary waveforms, operates a stepper motor with rotary encoder feedback, operates a syringe pump, operates a 3-axis positioner, and operates a PID-controlled vacuum system.  LabVIIEW is so easy, and so powerful that I typically have code running in the afternoon that implements an idea generated during the morning meeting.

Beyond the lab work, Cabochon plans to embed cRIO in our machine just as I did at Sanarus.  While this is not the least expensive route, Cabochon, like Sanarus before it, sees it as the Fastest Path to Done.  Once that first generation product is generating revenue, we plan to migrate first to single board RIO, then possibly to a custom ARM design if production volume warrants it.

Jeff Stevens

Cabochon Aesthetics

Menlo Park, CA

[visible progress]

HI.  I'm interested in the theory and algorythms pertaining to eeg reading and analyzing.  I read above that someone implemented a system to do that at a commercial lab.  Is that information available to the scientific public.  If so, I'd like to get that info.

   Tony   in Berkeley