The main purpose of Biosensor Collaboratory (BC) is to provide a virtual research/learning infrastructure for students and faculty with on-line 24 hour access to its facilities and activities. Typically, a student/researcher utilizing her/his computer or a remote/wireless control unit will be able to participate in ongoing experiments at the BC as well to obtain information on current educational or research meetings.

A conceptual structure of the BC is shown in Figure 1. In general, the BC resources will include those at the Drexel Biosensor Laboratory as well at other collaborating laboratories. Furthermore, participation in experiments will involve the control or monitoring of experiments in real-time from a remote location. One of the major goals will be to make a complete biosensor development process that is accessible via the Internet.

Distant multimedia capabilities of the BC are an integral part of the BC and are presented in Figure 2. Through the use of a digital cameras, bulletin boards, digital drawing panels, and digital whiteboards participants or lab-users will transmit real-time or pre-recorded information directly to their computers as well their research partners. Specifically, developed audio-video capabilities will allow face-to-face discussion, real-time design, experiment observation or laboratory space inspection.

A proposed modular and standardized system for remote BC experimentation is depicted in Figure 3. In particular, a planned connectivity of the BC instrumentation to Internet via the laboratory Web server is shown in details. In principle, the user will control or monitor her/his experiment from virtually anywhere on the globe. Further, data can be collected and analyzed without physically being at the experiment site. The components of this setting will include the Device(s) Under Test (DUT), Instrument Block (IB) where the data from the DUT will be collected by various instruments, dedicated computers for various functions with state-of-the art software and applications (GUIs, Data Analysis Software), and a configured Web-Server that will "serve" the laboratory as a whole to the outside world. DUT and IB will be connected to a controller computer through the General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB). The computers will be networked to the Web-Server through conventional TCP/IP and NetBIOS protocols.

The integration of the World Wide Web technologies into the BC implementing interconnectivity schematically depicted in Figure 4. The Web-Server will be custom programmed to give the users complete control of the laboratory on a secure platform. To give the users a real sense of physical presence, a video data server will be implemented to this system for visual inspection of experiment status and conditions via the World Wide Web.