Microfluidic scaffolds for organoid interfacing

This project is concerned with integrating organoids tissue engineering research with microfluidics technology. Organoids are made in vitro from typically stem cells that complexly self-organize to become 3D tissue constructs. These can mimic their corresponding in vivo organ, a so-called mini-organ. They thus provide a great avenue to study the different aspects of that organ in vitro. However, the current organoids models lack proper vasculature which prevents the oxygen and nutrient supply to their body. This leads to the development of necrotic cores and the inability to study the functionality of the system. To address this issue, microfluidics chip technology will be employed. The project aims to improve the organoids functionality by creating a scaffold with nanoengineered vasculature, using brain organoids as a model. The areas of research used will be microfluidic modelling and simulations to define the optimal requirements, this will be used for the fabrication of the scaffold and the analysis and characterization of the system. Biological assessments of the growth, viability and expression profiles of the organoid will be done to further optimize it. Using brain organoids as a model, the tool can be tested on Alzheimer’s disease patient-derived cells.