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Project

Cardiac mechanobiology-on-a-chip (COACH). (COACH)

The ability of cardiac cells to perceive mechanical cues is essential for heart function, and the malfunction of their mechanosensing apparatus is involved in diseases processes of the cardiovascular system. Indeed, several pathologies impacting on the function of the heart, from those affecting the vessels, to cardiac fibrosis and to the pathologies directly affecting the cardiac muscle, like the genetic polymorphisms associated with heart failure, they all have profound mechanobiological reflections. Hence, the quest is on for disease modelsthat are able to recapitulate not only the biochemical and biological aspects, but also the alterations at the electromechanical and mechanobiological level underlying cardiac pathologies. For these reasons, organ-on-a-chip technology is gaining considerable attention as a strategy to outperform conventional in vitro models in providing a pathophysiologically relevant setting for a comprehensive investigation of the biochemical, molecular and mechanobiological aspects of cardiac disease.The main goal of COACH is to establish a fully integrated in vitro/in silico platform for cardiac disease modelling for drug screening/development purposes. The platform will integrate organ-on-a-chip technology, implementing multiparametric (electrical, mechanical) stimulation and multi-technique readout. COACH technology will take consideration the mechanobiological aspects of cardiac disease to develop a relevant in vitro model for the screening of drugs for the management of cardiac fibrosis of different etiology.The concept of the project is based on the following pillars:to establish multi-cellular in vitro models that are representative of cardiac disease onset and progressionto provide high-throughput characterization of the mechanobiological aspects ofcardiac disease in such relevant culture conditionsto integrate the platforms with predictive in silico models of cell biomechanicsto validate the developed platforms on clinically relevant case studies of cardiac disease (including drug screening/repurposing).
Date:1 Dec 2019 →  30 Nov 2021
Keywords:mechanobiology, chip, cardiac cells
Disciplines:Immunomodulation therapy, Cell therapy