Integrating impedance-based growth-rate monitoring into a microfluidic cell culture platform for live-cell microscopy.

Growth rate is a widely studied parameter for various cell-based biological studies. Growth rates of cell populations can be monitored in chemostats and micro-chemostats, where nutrients are continuously replenished. Here, we present an integrated microfluidic platform that enables long-term culturing of non-adherent cells as well as parallel and mutually independent continuous monitoring of (i) growth rates of cells by means of impedance measurements and of (ii) specific other cellular events by means of high-resolution optical or fluorescence microscopy.

Impedance-Based Microfluidic Assay for Automated Antischistosomal Drug Screening.

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease, caused by parasitic worms, which affects almost 200 million people worldwide. For over 40 years, chemotherapeutic treatment has relied on the administration of praziquantel, an efficacious drug against schistosomiasis. However, concerns about developing drug resistance require the discovery of novel drug compounds.

Impedance-based detection of larvae viability for drug screening.

Human schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by trematodes, affecting almost 250 million people worldwide. For the past 30 years, treatment has relied on the large-scale administration of praziquantel. However, concerns regarding the appearance of drug-resistance parasites require efforts in identifying novel classes of suitable drugs against schistosomiasis.

Smart Cell Culture Systems: Integration of Sensors and Actuators into Microphysiological Systems.

Technological advances in microfabrication techniques in combination with organotypic cell and tissue models have enabled the realization of microphysiological systems capable of recapitulating aspects of human physiology in vitro with great fidelity. Concurrently, a number of analysis techniques has been developed to probe and characterize these model systems. However, many assays are still performed off-line, which severely compromises the possibility of obtaining real-time information from the samples under examination, and which also limits the use of these platforms in high-throughput analysis.