Electromechanical Engineered Heart Tissue Bioreactor for Trinity College Dublin

Cell culture compatible bioreactor platform capable of culturing 3D in vitro engineered muscle tissues (specifically cardiac) that can provide tunable electrical stimulation to tissues while allowing contraction of the tissue. The system should be able to monitor the system up to a speed of 15 kHz and have the capacity to measure contractile forces (inferred by contraction-enabled movement of supporting pillar structures) up to a sensitivity of 1 micro Newton. It should be able to culture voumes of 50 microlitres or less with a maximum of 500,000 cells present in the EHT. The system should be suited for a 24-well plate format with potential to upscale to 96 and/or 384 well plates with future upgrades. The system should be coupled with user-friendly software . It is necessary to program custom electrical stimulation and contraction force protocols per column in a 24 well plate by adjusting parameters such as smplitude, voltage, pulse width and the duration of the stimulation phase to create twitc or tetanic muscle stimuli for muslce tissue training.