Cytostretch, an Organ-on-Chip Platform

Organ-on-Chips (OOCs) are micro-fabricated devices which are used to culture cells in order to mimic functional units of human organs. The devices are designed to simulate the physiological environment of tissues in vivo. Cells in some types of OOCs can be stimulated in situ by electrical and/or mechanical actuators. These actuations can mimic...

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...

Assessment of Cytostretch - A Heart-On-Chip device. Experiments on Cardiomyocytes

An organ-on-chip device, called Cytostretch (Philips NV), that is capable of mechanically stimulating cultured cells, is the subject of this study. The device comprises a microthin PolyDiMethylSiloxane membrane that is highly elastic, on which titanium nitride electrodes have been embedded. Its utility is projected in cardiac research to emulate...

A Platform for Manufacturable Stretchable Micro-electrode Arrays

A platform for the batch fabrication of pneumatically actuated Stretchable Micro-Electrode Arrays (SMEAs) by using state-of-the-art micro-fabrication techniques and materials is demonstrated. The proposed fabrication process avoids the problems normally associated with processing of thin film structures on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), by first...