in vivo Nanomotor
A single-axis Nanomotor® light and rigid enough to ride on an animal's head — for patch-clamp recording in freely moving animals.
Small enough to ride on the animal#
The in vivo Nanomotor is a single-axis member of the Nanomotor® family, stripped to the essentials for one job: advancing and then rigidly holding a recording pipette during electrophysiology on freely moving animals. The NanoMotor itself stands 16 mm high and 4 mm in diameter; mounted on its support column with an enlarged base, the assembly reaches 25 mm overall. A clip holds the NanoMotor in place while still allowing some flexibility in how it sits on the animal’s head, and the end of its actuated axis carries a capillary holder — sized for 2 mm diameter capillaries — for the reference electrode.
Nine millimetres, quarter-nanometre steps#
Driven from a NanoControl, the NanoMotor covers 9 mm of range of motion in steps as small as 0.25 nm, and a single NanoControl can position up to four NanoMotors at once for multi-site recording. The mounting platform is 3 mm in diameter, and the cable to the controller runs up to 5 m — long enough to keep the electronics off the animal entirely. It pairs naturally with the MM3A-LS for bench work before the animal is head-mounted.
Gallery
The NanoMotor on its support column, clip and capillary holder attached. 
The recording-pipette approach the NanoMotor executes at the bench, before it moves to the animal.
Technical data
Overview
- NanoMotor height
- 16 mm
- Overall height (mounted)
- 25 mm
- Diameter
- 4 mm
- Weight
- 2 g + mounting
- Mounting platform
- 3 mm diameter
- Capillary holder
- 2 mm diameter capillaries
- Cable length
- up to 5 m
Motion
- Range of motion
- 9 mm
- Speed
- up to 1 mm/s
- Smallest step size
- 0.25 nm
- Holding force
- 0.15 N
- Material
- Stainless steel, aluminium
Advantages
Small enough to ride on the animal
- 16 mm NanoMotor height, 25 mm overall once mounted on its support column
- Held in a clip that allows some flexibility in placement on the head
- Low drift (1 nm/min) keeps a recording steady through a long session
- Cable runs up to 5 m from the head-mounted stage to the controller
Fast and precise
- Steps as small as 0.25 nm, controlled through the NanoControl
- One NanoControl drives up to four NanoMotors at once
- 9 mm of range of motion from a single compact drive
- Capillary holder for 2 mm diameter capillaries, on a 3 mm mounting platform
Related publications
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