Democratizing Organ-on-Chip Technologies with a Modular, Reusable, and Perfusion-Ready Microphysiological System, DJ Minahan*, KM Nelson*, F Ribeiro, BJ Ferrick, A Zurzolo, K Byers, and JP Gleghorn, Advanced Healthcare Materials, e02202, *indicates equal contribution

We have developed and validated a simple strategy to create a two layer in vitro microphysiological system within a one-time-use cell culture insert and a reusable cassette to enable fluid flow. The system enables easier cell culture than PDMS based devices and can be irreversibly sealed to enable access to the cells for assays. This highly customizable system has wide utility for modeling transport across a cell barrier and cell-cell interactions to better study physiological and pathogenic processes.

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In-house required equipment:

• Incubator (hypoxic preferred)

• Biosafety cabinet

• Multichannel peristaltic pump with flow rate control down to at least 0.01 mL/min

Zonal patterning of extracellular matrix and stromal cell populations along a perfusable cellular microchannel, B Chernokal*, BJ Ferrick*, JP Gleghorn, Lab on a Chip, 2024, 24, 5238 - 5250. *indicates equal contribution

We have developed and validated a simple strategy to create an in vitro microphysiological system with regionally patterned stromal cell populations and hydrogel properties along the length of a perfused continuous tubular epithelium. This highly customizable system has wide utility for modeling epithelial and endothelial tissue interactions with heterogeneous hydrogel compositions and/or stromal cell populations to better dissect the specific microenvironmental factors that govern developmental tissue patterning.

Click here for more information or to inquire about a collaboration

In-house required equipment:

• Incubator

• Biosafety cabinet

• Peristaltic pump with flow rate control down to at least 0.01 mL/min

Modular parallel plate flow chamber with tunable substrate mechanics and defined shear stress, BJ Ferrick* & JP Gleghorn, Biomedical Microdevices, Accepted

In this work, we developed an accessible parallel-plate flow chamber to enable independent control of both extracellular matrix stiffness and fluid shear stress, two key mechanical cues that cells experience in their native environments. Our device maintains predictable fluid dynamics, supports robust epithelial monolayers, and provides enough material for downstream biochemical analyses, addressing major limitations of existing microfluidic systems. Using this platform, we discovered that stiffness and shear stress act synergistically to remodel the actin cytoskeleton, highlighting how cells integrate multiple mechanical signals.