This work is focused on the development of a user friendly software interface using the LabViewTM environment that simplifies running of various experiments using laser micromanipulations and laser microspectroscopy of living microorganisms. Both techniques have been developing very fast for the last decade and belong to the growing group of contact-less and nondestructive techniques for manipulation and diagnostics of individual living microorganisms, cells, or viruses. Within this project we mastered the driving of peripheries, calibration of CCD scene, real-time image processing of the CCD scene, automatic selection of the cell for further laser processing, acquisition and processing of the Raman spectrum from living microorganisms. The final goal of our activity is fully automatic laser-based sorter of living cells depending on their chemical compositions. This work has been elaborated at the Institute of Scientific Instruments of the ASCR, v.v.i. under the supervision of prof. Pavel Zemanek.

Miniature compliant grippers are designed and developed to manipulate biological cells and characterize them. Apart from grippers, other compliant mechanisms are also demonstrated to be effective in manipulation and characterization. Although scalability and force-sensing capability are inherent to a compliant mechanism, it is important to design a compliant mechanism for a given application. Two techniques based on Spring-lever models and kinetoelastostatic maps are developed and used for designing compliant devices. The kinetoelastostatic maps-based technique is a novel approach in designing a mechanism of a given topology and shape. It is also demonstrated that these techniques can be used to tune the stiffness of a mechanism for a given application. In situations where any single mechanism is incapable of executing a specific task, two or more mechanisms are combined into a single continuum with enhanced functionality. This has led to designs of composite compliant mechanisms. Biological cells are manipulated using compliant grippers in order to study their mechanical responses. Biological cells whose size varies from 1 mm (a large zebrafish embryo) to 10 µm (human liver cells), and which require the grippers to resolve forces ranging from 1 mN (zebrafish embryo) to 10 nN (human cells), are manipulated. In addition to biological cells, in some special cases such as tissue-cutting and cement-testing, inanimate specimens are used to highlight specific features of compliant mechanisms. Two extreme cases of manipulation are carried out to demonstrate the efficacy of the design techniques. They are: (i) breaking a stiff cement specimen of stiffness 250 kN/m (ii) gentle grasping of a soft zebrafish embryo of stiffness 10 N/m. Apart from manipulation, wherever it is viable, the mechanisms are interfaced with a haptic device such that the user’s experience of manipulation is enriched with force feedback. An auxiliary study on the characterization of cells is carried out using a micro¬pipette based aspiration technique. Using this technique, cells existing in different conditions such as perfusion, therapeutic medicines, etc., are mechanically characterized. This study is to qualitatively compare aspiration-based techniques with compliant gripper-based manipulation techniques. A compliant gripper-based manipulation technique is beneficial in estimating the bulk stiffness of the cells and can be extended to estimate the distribution of Young’s modulus in the interior. This estimation is carried out by solving an inverse problem. A previously reported scheme to solve over specified boundary conditions of an elastic object—in this case a cell—is improved, and the improved scheme is validated with the help of macro-scale specimens.

Chez les insectes, le succès reproducteur est intimement lié aux ressources nutritives dont dispose la femelle ainsi qu'à leur allocation au sein de l'organisme. Grâce à une étude physiologique détaillée du nourrissage sur l'hôte chez deux ectoparasitoïdes synovigéniques nous avons identifié et quantifié les nutriments obtenus lors du nourrissage sur l'hôte et testé leurs effets sur les traits d'histoire de vie des femelles. Nous avons ainsi prouvé que les parasitoïdes consomment l'hémolymphe de leur hôte lors du nourrissage sur l'hôte. Nous avons également démontré qu'il existe un lien direct entre nourrissage sur l'hôte et fécondité. Nos résultats montrent également que les principaux sucres obtenus au cours du nourrissage sur l'hôte, le tréhalose et le saccharose, sont responsables de l'augmentation de survie observée suite au nourrissage. Le nourrissage sur l'hôte permet donc aux femelles d'assurer les dépenses métaboliques liées aussi bien à la maintenance qu'à la fécondité.

L’objectif de cette thèse est le développement d’un nouveau capteur de forcemulti-axes destiné à mesurer les composantes de friction impliquées dans lecontact doigt/objet lors la micromanipulation dextre. Des études théoriques etdes simulations par éléments finis ont conduit à la conception de ce capteurMEMS piézorésistif composé d’une plate-forme centrale munie d’une microbille,entourée d’une table compliante. D’après les résultats de simulations, ce capteur estcapable de mesurer indépendamment les forces normales et de frottement (couplageréciproque inférieure à 1%) avec une bonne sensibilité. Différents runs de fabricationnous ont permis d’obtenir des dispositifs exploitables. La structure mécanique de cescapteurs a été validée par la mesure des fréquences de résonance qui sont en accordavec les résultats de simulation. Des premiers résultats expérimentaux en termesde mesure de force ont ensuite été obtenus grâce au développement d’un banc detest (structure robotique, actionneurs, caméras, etc.). Nous nous sommes égalementintéressés à la problématique de l’étalonnage des capteurs de micro et nanoforceà l’aide de ressorts magnétiques reliés à des masses mesurables. Nous avons, danscette optique, mis au point une stratégie d’estimation et de compensation passivedes perturbations mécaniques en utilisant un principe différentiel. Cette approchea été appliquée à un capteur de nanoforce basé sur la lévitation diamagnétique et aabouti à des résultats prometteurs : une résolution inférieure au nanonewton a puêtre obtenue. / Sensor enabling to characterize the finger/object contact involved in dexterousmicromanipulation. Theoretical studies and finite elements simulations have lead tothe conception of this piezoresistive MEMS sensor composed of a central platformwith a micro-ball and surrounded by a compliant table. According to the simulationresults, this sensor is able to independently measure the normal and friction forces(crosstalk less than 1 %) with a good sensitivity. Several runs of fabrication allowedus to obtain usable devices. The mechanical structure of such sensors has beenvalidated by the measurement of resonance frequencies that are consistent with thesimulation results. The first experimental results in terms of force measurement werethen obtained through the development of a test bench (robotic structure, actuators,cameras, etc.). We were also interested in the problem of calibration of micro andnanoforce sensors using magnetic springs connected to measurable masses. In thiscontext, we developed an estimation strategy and a passive rejection of mechanicaldisturbances using a differential principle. This approach was applied to a nanoforcesensor based on the diamagnetic levitation and yielded promising results: a resolutionlower the nanonewton level could be obtained.