Projects

An apparatus for high throughput nano-mechanical muscle cell experimentation

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in all males and females in the US and was recently estimated to cost $368 billion annually. Currently, the pharmaceutical industry uses limited techniques to explore the mechanical effects of new drugs on cardiac tissue such as visual inspection of cells on a slide. We are developing an array of 100s of modular instruments capable of high throughput rigorous mechanical characterization of single cardiac muscle cells. This will allow direct screening of the mechanical end effects of pharmaceutical compounds and increase the quality and veracity of products aimed at alleviating cardiovascular disease

Figure 1: Bluegill sunfish with right pectoral fin extended and CAD model of biorobotic pectoral fin.

Figure 3.: A testing module. Each module within the array is based on two stainless steel cantilevers that form independently controlled Lorentz force actuators. An embedded micro controller will perform data acquisition and adaptive digital control to probe the mechanics of single cells

Figure 3.: A testing module. Each module within the array is based on two stainless steel cantilevers that form independently controlled Lorentz force actuators. An embedded micro controller will perform data acquisition and adaptive digital control to probe the mechanics of single cells