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

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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.