Micro-engineered devices for assessing cellular responses to mechanical stimulation of ex vivo tissues

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A combination of soft lithography and 3D printing technologies will be used to create a multipart microsystem - including a lower part for securing gel-supported tissue and an upper part with a deflectable membrane - in which freshly isolated skeletal muscle can be maintained in vitro. Spheres of test materials will be integrated into the elastomeric membrane (to create a small indenter), which will be pneumatically-actuated via a control gas channel. Actuation profiles/forces representing actual loading conditions as experienced during normal daily activities with a lower limb prosthesis will be utilised. The 2020/21 CDT Project Proposal Form V.1. fully assembled system will be sufficiently thin to enable long-term imaging of changes at the cellular level (e.g. apoptosis rates and local tissue remodelling) resulting from different compression profiles.