R61: Slide Decks for 6 Month Progress Report
PDF with all slides: R61 HL154249-01(6 Month Progress)
PDF with all slides: R61 HL154249-01(6 Month Progress)
Introduction In our labs previously work, difficulties in growing endothelial cells (ECs) under shear flow lead to the exploration of novel membrane technologies that permit firm EC attachment, without compromising membrane permeability or leukocyte transmigration studies. We ultimately landed on the development of effectively ‘dual-scale’ membranes that contained 3 μm pores dispersed amongst an NPN…
Introduction As discussed in a previous post, we are working to adapt a PDMS flow insert as a manufacturable component. While our priority was maintaining the original flow channel geometry as Mansouri et al. designed, we slightly changed the channel length (5 mm –> 4.6 mm) to accommodate an extra bonding area for the pressure-sensitive…
Introduction Breakdown of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is one of the earliest signs of sepsis and is linked with long-term cognitive impairment. As animal models poorly recapitulate human sepsis, alternative approaches are direly needed to understand sepsis-associated brain injury and develop strategies that protect against cognitive decline. To fill this gap, we are developing a…
Introduction A healthy blood-brain barrier is not permissive to most small molecules, but during inflammation, tight junctions weaken and the barrier becomes more permissive. We have developed an in situ permeability assay that tracks diffusion across a cell monolayer and membrane and into the bottom channel of the µSiM device. The assay tracks a fluorescent…
Introduction Previous work was done on determining physical properties of the glycocalyx of endothelial cells, this was performed on glass inserts using the Asylum AFM. We wanted to continue this testing using the Aline uSim devices in order to determine any significant differences between our devices and the glass bottom flow system developed in…
Background Tissue-on-a-chip systems have been a promising means of mimicking and understanding the complex and convoluted functions of the in vivo blood-brain barrier (BBB). These semipermeable borders of endothelial cells are highly selective in order to protect the fragile central nervous system (CNS) from bloodborne pathogens or inflammatory signals and are known to have a…