The Physiology Computer Research Resource collaborates with biomedical research laboratories at several medical schools supporting laboratory automation. Collaborating laboratories are investigating: synaptic input to brainstem respiratory neurons, cutaneous sensory dorsal horn neurons, neural genesis of respiratory rhythm, time-resolved single cell laser spectroscopy, muscle contraction, membrane biophysics, cellular aspects of cardiac defibrillation, neurophysiology, quantitative video intensification microscopy, cardiovascular control and microvasculature. Collaboration is fostered through the Federated Processor Laboratory Automation System (FPLAS) consisting of hardware and software modules designed, developed, and produced by the Resource. The """"""""federated"""""""" nature of this system -- several processing units of equal complexity but differing in their areas of specialization -- is derived from recent insights in parallel computation and bus architecture. The FPLAS accommodates the demands of the biomedical research instrumentation environment and allows incremental increase in system performance through incorporation of expected semiconductor technology advances. The modular construction of the system allows these anticipated advances to be incorporated in an incremental fashion while retaining the majority of the existing equipment. Incremental growth allowed by the FP architecture is particularly important to the biomedical research community because its applications do not constitute a broad enough market to bear the ever escalating development costs which accompany development of new semiconductor devices.
