3D-CELLSISTOR Versatile 3D Bioelectronic Platform for In Vitro Models

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The interfacing of biology and electronics, or bioelectronics, has pioneered interdisciplinary research and led to remarkable developments in medicine and healthcare. The ability to study human cells in vitro, or outside the body, has widened the horizon of our knowledge of the human body, without extensive and invasive animal or human based studies. Advances in tissue engineering have made it possible to build 3D structures for hosting and growing cells, which are more accurate representations of the cell environments in the human body. Observing cell behaviour in these 3D structures will require more complex techniques than optical imaging, which merely provide "a snapshot" of the entire process and from a limited 2D perspective. Organic electronics can provide a vital holistic input in this domain to integrate the 3D structures into electronic devices to transduce the ionic biological signals intoelectrical ones. This project aims to design and develop sophisticated bioelectronic devices which will function as a universal platform to host and monitor cell behaviour through continuous, dynamic and direct electronic monitoring. It will address the key challenge of understanding the electrical signals from a biological perspective and form correlations between the two systems. An increasing depth of expertise between these correlations will provide a wealth of knowledge to the overall understanding of human cells in health and disease.The researcher is of Indian origin and has recently successfully completed her PhD in the topic of organic electronics from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. She has experience in the fabrication and characterization of organic electronic devices. At the University of Cambridge, she will have the opportunity to gain experience in cell biology, tissue engineering and advanced bioelectonics.