Design and Fabrication of a Dielectric Elastomer Actuator for Organ-on-Chips Platforms

Cell behavior in vitro can be regulated by mechanical stimulation. Cytostretch is an Organ-on-Chip (OOC) platform that allows cyclic stretching tissue in culture. Its pneumatic actuation can hinder it from microfluidic systems integration. A dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) was developed and fabricated in this thesis for Cytostretch as an...

Fabrication and characterization of an Upside-down CNT MEA

Over the last few years the need of new alternatives to traditional disease modelling, drug screening and toxicity tests has boosted the development of a new class of devices called Organ on Chip. These usually consist in a substrate or a well in which cells are cultured with the aim of differentiating them in a particular tissue lineage. With...