Speaking Bio - Mosaic Design Labs Colorimetric Assay Instrument

Mosaic Design Labs is a US-based biomedical instrumentation development firm, specializing in combining deep knowledge of biological science with a wide range of engineering expertise in embedded systems, mechanical, microfluidic, and software fields. Having previously worked on diverse projects in life sciences, healthcare, lab automation, and computational modeling platforms, the company offers a comprehensive range of development services. One of their notable achievements is the development of a benchtop instrument that can conduct multiplexed real-time colorimetric nucleic acid amplification assays.

Mosaic Design Labs in the spotlight with Torizon and Toradex

Mosaic Design Labs faced the challenge of developing a cutting-edge, real-time colorimetric nucleic acid amplification assay instrument for its customer. Their goal was to optimize hardware efficiency, reduce operational impact and costs, and implement an easy-to-use remote updates solution. By partnering with Toradex and adopting Torizon, Mosaic successfully met these challenges, paving the way for a future of innovative solutions.
Mosaic Design Labs
Spencer Sawyer

Manufacturing Engineer

Mosaic Design Labs worked with us to understand our needs and design a lab instrument that fit our QC and R&D workflows. Mosaic combines hardware and software development with deep experience in the biomedical sciences. Mosaic recommended Toradex for the instrument, and a key feature for us was the ability to use the built-in OTA tools to support instruments across the entire fleet.


Mosaic Design Labs’ Journey with Torizon and Toradex


  • Addressing the Pain Points

    Mosaic sought to create a benchtop device capable of performing concurrent, real-time colorimetric amplification of multiple nucleic acids. They needed to maximize hardware development efficiency, reduce time to market, and find a simple remote update solution to develop an instrument that would offer isothermal incubation for LAMP reactions (loop-mediated isothermal amplification) and simultaneously detect changes in optical absorbance across 48 samples.

  • The Challenge of Improving Hardware Development Efficiency

    Selecting hardware is more than just meeting hardware specifications. For Mosaic Design Labs, it involved prioritizing the availability of long-term supported hardware and utilizing a set of carrier board development tools to accelerate the development process. Toradex’s offerings proved to be valuable resources for creating custom designs.

  • Overcoming the Challenge of Time-to-Market and Updates with Torizon Ecosystem

    The complete software stack, from the OS to over-the-air updates, was the major turning point in the decision. Mosaic needed to iterate fast and, even more, they needed to be capable of updating the application with the device in the field. That way, the Torizon Ecosystem and Platform Services provided this and more with Torizon OS (formerly TorizonCore), Device Monitoring dashboards, and a VS Code extension. Then, Mosaic could deploy new features quickly, reducing time to market and costs, and being able to deliver solutions to its clients quickly and seamlessly.

The Torizon Cloud provided an end-to-end solution whereby Toradex hardware and software could be deployed and monitored via a remote platform for in-field updates and proactive device monitoring.

Frankie Myers
Frankie Myers

Founder and Principal,
Mosaic Design Labs


Positive Results Faster with Toradex and Torizon

Toradex played a crucial role in every stage of the project, with Mosaic’s choice of the Apalis iMX6 System on Module delivering seamless peripheral access, exceptional performance, and unmatched durability, essential for the Test & Measurement industry. By leveraging Toradex’s hardware and software stack, particularly the Torizon ecosystem, Mosaic Design Labs successfully developed their real-time LAMP test instrument.
Frankie Myers
Frankie Myers

Founder and Principal,
Mosaic Design Labs

Toradex has a robust ecosystem of partners, support tools, and software to support hardware and software development.

Toradex’s support structure proved to be a game-changer for Mosaic. With a range of development tools and a partner ecosystem, Mosaic received valuable assistance. The Visual Studio Code extension simplified image packaging and OTA updates through the Torizon Cloud (formerly Torizon Platform) Services, while pre-built Debian containers and the Qt/QML framework accelerated GUI development.

We used the pre-built Qt Debian container for Torizon, which helped us get up and running with a Qt C++ application and touchscreen GUI very quickly.

Frankie Myers
Frankie Myers

Founder and Principal,
Mosaic Design Labs

The Torizon OS provided a containerized environment that enabled portable applications with minimal impact, valuable even for non-experienced developers. Mosaic utilized the Torizon Cloud Services to gain a scalable and user-friendly updates solution, allowing remote updates and monitoring through Device Monitoring dashboards. By leveraging the hardware capabilities along withTorizon OS and OTA updates, Mosaic effortlessly achieved a seamless and efficient implementation, and fast iteration for solution delivery to its clients.
Frankie Myers
Frankie Myers

Founder and Principal,
Mosaic Design Labs

The Visual Studio Code extension simplified image packaging and over-the-air deployment via Torizon Cloud Services, especially for engineers with minimal embedded Linux experience.


Mosaic’s Realtime Colorimetric Assay Instrument Featuring Toradex

Apalis iMX6

The Apalis iMX6 is a small form-factor System on Module that runs a quad-core Arm Cortex-A9 processor on a NXP/Freescale i.MX 6 SoC @ 1.2 GHz. Apalis supports a huge variety of industry standard interfaces, making it suitable for an almost unlimited number of applications.
  • Torizon OS
  • Small form factor System on Module
  • Up to four Cortex-A9 1.0 GHz processors
  • Peak frequency of 800 MHz
  • 3D GPU, h.264 encoder and decoder
  • High-speed interfaces including CAN, UART, I2C, USB, PCIe, SATA, and many more
  • Direct Breakout™

Colorimetric Key Aspects

Mosaic developed a benchtop instrument to conduct multiplexed realtime colorimetric nucleic acid amplification assays. The instrument provides isothermal incubation of a LAMP reaction (loop-mediated isothermal amplification). Simultaneously, it measures optical absorbance changes across 48 specimens.
  • Optical specimen block assembly design based around a Peltier thermoelectric module
  • Motorized lid mechanism design
  • Custom mixed-signal PCBA design
  • Firmware developed in C++/Qt with a touchscreen UI built in QML
  • Backend database development and web UI for data visualization
  • Finite element modeling of thermal performance
  • REST API for automation control
  • Experimental bench characterization of thermal and optical performance
  • Temperature and optical calibration standards and automated calibration routine

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