Single Cell Interfacing op Chip: Evaluatie van elektrische en fotonische methoden

Imec has been developing innovative in vitro platforms for the interaction with in vitro cell cultures. Active CMOS read-out and stimulation circuits are combined with micro-transducers in the form of nail and syringe structures for bi-directional single-cell access to large cultures ofelectrogenic cells such as cortical/hippocampal neurons or cardiomyocytes. Successful experimentation requires careful co-development of the cell biology/physiology, surface chemistry, electrical measurement principles, and the signal pre- and post-processing. Such protocols are fundamental to using these new transducer devices in pharmaceutical assays.The focus in this PhD is on the co-design of physiologically relevant experiments, in particular on the development and validation of experimentalmeasurement procedures using the integrated CMOS transducers and of theco-development of the required signal pre- and post-processing algorithms. Experimentation requires proper management of cell culturing procedures, maintaining biocompatibility over periods ranging from days to weeks. An integral part is tuning the and optimizing the electrical read-outand stimulation capabilities of the CMOS transducers for various experimental goals such as single-cell resolution multi-cell read-out and simultaneous stimulation and read-out, all correlated with classical experimental techniques such as fluorescence imaging or patch clamping. Around every experiment, the proper signal processing frame (largely in software) has to be developed, i.e. design of stimulation waveforms and analysis and interpretation of recordings from different measurement principles.Success criteria of this PhD are the development of tuned and optimized protocols ranging from proper cell culturing conditions over the measurement optimization towards the signal pre- and post-processing algorithms for various experimental setups relevant for the development of pharmaceutical assays.

Trefwoorden:Bioelectronics, Microfluidics, Biophotonics

Disciplines:Fysica van gecondenseerde materie en nanofysica

Project type:PhD project