< Back to previous page

Project

In vitro and in silico modeling of CEP degeneration mechanisms

In this PhD, I will study CEP degradation in vitro to validate the multi-scale model developed by other students in the Disk4All network. So, the in vitro set-up needs to be able to keep the CEP alive by providing essential environmental conditions It should also introduce a degradation process by applying load and flow across the CEP This constitutes a number of specific tasks. • use bovine CEPs to test medium composition & culture conditions to keep CEP alive and healthy (for example, should we use agarose or not) • after that, we should keep the cells alive but let them degrade (e.g. by adding cytokines or playing with other medium factors) • finally, we will study the flow across the endplate (e.g. putting it in a sandwich with agarose and placing it in a bioreactor chamber for dynamic culture.) Here, flow rates should mimic the physiological regimes in terms of magnitude, frequency & net direction (for example taking into account the day and night different regimes.) In this study we can compare healthy CEPs to degenerating CEP and agarose with chondrocytes (so basically TE substitute of CEP). At this stage, we will be able to play with the medium to mimic patient conditions or other factors coming from the model.

Date:4 Nov 2021 →  Today
Keywords:cartilage endplate, CEP, IVD, intervertebral column, degeneration, cell culture
Disciplines:Biomedical modelling
Project type:PhD project