Custom Scientific Instrumentation

LeafLabs help research teams and deep-tech companies build scientific tools that push the limits of precision, speed, and discovery.

What We Build

We design custom hardware and embedded systems to meet the precise demands of scientific applications — whether you’re building an in-lab prototype or moving toward field deployment. Our instrumentation expertise includes:

  • Custom data acquisition systems for high-speed sensing

  • Real-time embedded control systems and firmware

  • Optical and electrophysiological interfaces

  • Scientific-grade synchronization, triggering, and timing

  • Signal amplification, filtering, and digitization hardware

Our Capabilities

We specialize in systems that blend electrical engineering, embedded software, and R&D collaboration that are designed for reproducibility, adaptability, and precision.

Hardware Design

  • Mixed-signal PCB design for high-speed or low-noise environments

  • Front-end analog signal conditioning

  • Custom I/O & synchronization

  • Design for Manufacturing

Firmware & Embedded Systems

  • Real-time data handling & processing (bare metal, RTOS, Linux)

  • Custom FPGA logic for signal acquisition & timing

  • Interfaces to scientific software & protocols (LabVIEW, Python, SPI, USB, Ethernet)

Prototyping & Consulting

  • Feasibility assessments for novel instrumentation concepts

  • Architecture planning & component selection

  • Experimental test setups & iterative builds

  • Grant writing & support

LeafLabs helps R&D teams build tools that actually work

We collaborate with research institutions, academic labs, startups, and industry partners to bring novel instrumentation ideas to life. Our clients rely on us to turn experimental goals into reliable, well-engineered systems.

At LeafLabs, we bring deep expertise in embedded systems, signal processing, and physical computing. Our team thrives in ambiguity, moving quickly from concept to prototype with the rigor and flexibility that scientific R&D demands. Based in Cambridge, MA, we offer 100% US-based engineering and a proven track record of navigating the gap between research and real-world deployment.

We pride ourselves on excellent designs, quick execution, and being a pleasure to work with.

 

Let’s get building

We move faster than most labs — and we clean up our own code.

Scientific Instrumentation Case Studies

1024-Channel Neural Recording

Electrophysiology system designed to be one-tenth of the cost per channel of existing systems.

Custom Neurosensing ASIC

Next gen wireless recording system from electrophysiology, including custom silicon built by LeafLabs.

High-Res Lightfield Microscopy

A microscope designed to increase the spatial and temporal resolution of light-field microscopy by a combined factor of 100.

Publications

2018

  • Brian D. Allen, Caroline Moore-Kochlacs, Jacob Gold Bernstein, Justin Kinney, Jorg Scholvin, Luis Seoane, Chris Chronopoulos, Charlie Lamantia, Suhasa B Kodandaramaiah, Max Tegmark, and Edward S Boyden (2018) Automated in vivo patch clamp evaluation of extracellular multielectrode array spike recording capability. Journal of Neurophysiology https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00650.2017

  • Jörg Scholvin, Anthony Zorzos, Justin Kinney, Jacob Bernstein, Caroline Moore-Kochlacs, Nancy Kopell, Clifton Fonstad and Edward S. Boyden. (2018) Scalable, Modular Three-Dimensional Silicon Microelectrode Assembly via Electroless Plating Micromachines 9:436; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi9090436

2017

  • Quadrato G, Nguyen T, Macosko EZ, Sherwood JL, Min Yang S, Berger DR, Maria N, Scholvin J, Goldman M, Kinney JP, Boyden ES, Lichtman JW, Williams ZM, McCarroll SA, Arlotta P (2017) Cell diversity and network dynamics in photosensitive human brain organoids, Nature 545(7652):48-53. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22047

2016

  • Scholvin J, Kinney JP , Bernstein JG, Moore-Kochlacs C, Kopell N, Fonstad C, & Boyden ES (2016). Heterogeneous neural amplifier integration for scalable extracellular microelectrodes, Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2016 IEEE 38th Annual International Conference of the , DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2016.7591309

  • Scholvin J, Kinney JP , Bernstein JG, Moore-Kochlacs C, Kopell N, Fonstad C, & Boyden ES (2015). Close-Packed Silicon Microelectrodes for Scalable Spatially Oversampled Neural Recording, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 63(1):120-30. DOI:10.1109/TBME.2015.2406113.

2015

  • Kinney JP, Bernstein JG, Meyer AJ, Barber JB, Bolivar M, Newbold B, Scholvin J, Moore-Kochlacs C, Wentz CT, Kopell NJ and Boyden ES (2015) A direct-to-drive neural data acquisition system. Front. Neural Circuits 9:46. DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2015.00046.