Instrumentation of an isolation chamber for the study of brain development in avian models.

The developed work is framed in an international project that aims at the study of sleeping cycles in the developing brain through an avian animal model. It is of great interest to understand the underlying processes of the developing brain in order to address certain conditions of the adult brain that are characterized by sleep-like patterns. The main objective of this Bachelor Thesis is to implement a data acquisition system that involves vital signal processing obtained from avian embryos that would help unlock the unknowns that are involved in the aforementioned sleep-like patterns of certain neurological disorders. The implementation is done according to the design developed by engineers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid together with a team of neurobiologists from the University of McGill. The system provides an isolated environment for an avian embryo to develop under controlled conditions while being monitored by a network of sensors that measure EEG, heartbeat and inner and shell temperature. Direct human interaction with the inner chamber is minimized with the aid of a webcam, a microphone, a speaker, a system of lights and a PC interface that allows the user to control and monitor the experiment without interfering with natural development. Future guidelines are proposed, encouraging researchers to make use of the system in order to unlock major unknowns regarding developmental neurobiology and engineers to improve the system with future requirements.