Portable thermal cycler for fluorescence-based bacterial load testing

Client

GeneSys Bio SRLS - www.genesysbio.com

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Key Responsibilities

• Optical and thermal system design for fluorescence-based PCR
• Embedded firmware development for device control and data acquisition
• Signal processing and bacterial load detection algorithms
• Prototyping: PCB, enclosure, and full-system integration
• Development of web-based touchscreen GUI and Bluetooth communication

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Description

Imola Engineering took charge of the entire design and development process. We began with an in-depth analysis of the reaction and fluorescence behavior to identify the most appropriate excitation-emission pair. This phase involved extensive validation and optical prototyping to select the right sensor-emitter group for robust signal detection.

Once the optical system was finalized, we tackled the thermal architecture. We engineered a highly precise thermal control system capable of maintaining a temperature delta of less than 0.5°C across all 8 reaction wells. Independent PID-controlled thermal zones for the sample wells and the heated lid enabled accurate and stable temperature profiles, including fast ramp-up times and plateau control.

The core of the system is governed by a custom embedded firmware, responsible for thermal cycles, real-time data acquisition, and synchronization with the user interface.

We also developed the entire high-level software stack, including the signal acquisition pipeline, data filtering and thresholding algorithms for positive detection, and a web-based GUI hosted locally on the device. Wireless communication with a companion mobile app was integrated via Bluetooth.

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Imola Engineering handled every stage of the process, from early R&D and component selection to enclosure design, PCB development, sensor integration, firmware implementation, software architecture, and final testing. All hardware, firmware, and software components were fully developed in-house.

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