Positioning system for neurophysiological applications

This device has three axis motorized with precision linear motors. The Z-axis is equipped with an electrode holder which can be customized.
 A Thomas Pencil Microdrive can be mounted to the Z-axis of the motorized XYZ-manipulator (see figure 1). This Pencil Microdrive is optional available and can move a Thomas microelectrode (single electrode, tetrode, heptode or multitrode) with an axial resolution of 1μm into neural tissue.

Figure 1: Thomas Pencil drive mounted to the motorized XYZ-manipulator
In contrast to other motorized XYZ manipulators presently available on the market, we do not use piezo steppers as actuators. Therefore we do not need a powered-off mode for recording neural signals. With the Thomas system one can move the electrode into brain tissue and record simultaneously without noise pickup from the actuators! 
By using the Thomas pencil drive together with the motorized XYZ-manipulator we can offer 4 motorized axis that can be controlled independently from each other by a motor control software which is part of system delivery.
 The motorized XYZ-manipulator is small and lightweight. We can customize the device to fulfill different scientific requirements.
 For example the motorized XYZ-manipulator is used in multi-slice recording setups together with Thomas pencil drives or stimulation electrode holders.

Figure 2: Motorized XYZ-manipulator with Thomas Pencil Drive mounted on a Lohman Research multi slice recording chamber

Figure 3: Slice recording unit with 4 slice chambers equipped with 4 motorized XYZ-manipulator with Thomas Pencil Drive for simultaneous recording

Figure 4: Slice recording unit with 4 slice chambers equipped with 4 motorized XYZ-manipulator with Thomas Pencil Drive for simultaneous recording and 4 additional motorized XYZ-manipulators for positioning stimulation electrodes in the slices.