Bioreactor for high-throughput production and mechanical stimulation of cardiac microtissues

This technology is a microfluidic bioreactor that utilizes mechanical stimulation for high-throughput production and manipulation of cardiac microtissues in vitro.

Unmet Need: Physiologically relevant model of cardiac hypertrophy

Despite advancements in the study of chronic heart disease, there are a lack of effective treatment options for chronic heart failure, a condition characterized by cardiac hypertrophy (enlargement of the heart). While stem cell-based therapies are a promising therapeutic approach, current methods result in immature cardiac cells, leading to poor cell retention and viability after transplantation into the heart. Additionally, current animal and in vitro models of cardiac hypertrophy are labor-intensive, costly, and fail to recapitulate native biology.

The Technology: Micro-bioreactor for high-throughput production and manipulation of cardiac microtissues

This technology is a reusable microfluidic platform that applies physiologically relevant mechanical stimulation to grow and manipulate cardiac microtissues in vitro. Controlled mechanical stimulation is applied in a stable, reproducible fashion through pneumatic loading. An array of microbioreactors enables high-throughput production and repetitive testing of thousands of loading parameters on cardiac microtissues. This platform accurately recapitulates pathology seen in native heart tissue and is modifiable for other microtissue-culture applications.

This technology has been successfully implemented to develop an in vitro model of volume overload-induced hypertrophy using rat cardiomyocytes.

Applications:

• Production of cardiac microtissues for studying cardiac hypertrophy induced by volume overload
• Platform for studying the effects of mechanical load on disease development
• Platform for rapid screening of drug candidates

Advantages:

• High-throughput
• Robust and reproducible control over mechanical loading
• Reusable
• Allows for repetitive testing of thousands of loading parameters using minimal resources
• Enables production of mature cardiac microtissues in vitro
• Physiologically relevant cardiac hypertrophy model

Lead Inventor:

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Issued (US 11,649,424)

Related Publications:

• Chen T, Vunjak-Novakovic G. “Human Tissue-Engineered Model of Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.” Tissue Eng Part A. 2019 May;25(9-10):711-724.

• Parsa H, Wang BZ, Vunjak-Novakovic G. “A microfluidic platform for the high-throughput study of pathological cardiac hypertrophy.” Lab Chip. 2017 Sep 26; 17(19): 3264-3271.

• Ronaldson-Bouchard K, Yeager K, Teles D, Chen T, Ma S, Song L, Morikawa K, Wobma HM, Vasciaveo A, Ruiz EC, Yazawa M, Vunjak-Novakovic G. “Engineering of human cardiac muscle electromechanically matured to an adult-like phenotype.” Nat Protoc. 2019 Oct;14(10):2781-2817.

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU17293

• Licensing Contact: Cynthia Lang