Development of a lab-on-a-chip platform device for multimodal stimulation of cells

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Stem cells grow into different cell types based on environmental cues. ***Using external stimuli such as forces and electricity to mimic in vivo conditions, recent advances can reprogram induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into cardiomyocytes (CM). Long-term applications include drug cardiotoxicity testing for personalized medicine and cardiovascular disease management. However, the cell maturation rate is still low and protocols to assess cell maturation lacking.***Thus one specific bioengineering question we are trying to address is: By using advanced microfluidic devices that can apply multimodal stimuli and sense cell responses, can we establish a protocol and improve the maturation rate of iPSC-derived CM? This Discovery Grant program will engineer a new class of devices that apply multimodal external stimuli to cells with built-in force sensors to sense cellular response. The longterm goal is to establish a protocol using the developed devices to stimulate cells and assess cell maturation in real time.