Team Members: Alexsandra Denisin, Davis Li, Pauline Luong, Chris Alabastro
Capstone Client: David Copenhagen, Ph.D, UCSF Opthalmology & Physiology
Purpose: Development studies of synaptic pathways in mouse neonatal retina, phototaxis, and hyaloid vessel regression currently require that mice are dark reared. To achieve this, pregnant mice are isolated from other mice 2-3 days before litter birth. Pup age is estimated by manual inspection that requires a laboratory professional to check on the mice daily, including after normal business hours. The Capstone team developed a pup delivery detector to accurately determine birth time of pups such that researchers can age-match mice. Unlike manual inspection, this research sensor identifies the birth hour and day for age-matching individuals.