Bridging the Gap in Ashby's Map for Soft Material Properties for Tissue Engineering.

Ashby's map's role in rationally selecting materials for optimal performance is well-established in traditional engineering applications. However, there is a major gap in Ashby's maps in selecting materials for tissue engineering, which are very soft with an elastic modulus of less than 100 kPa. To fill the gap, we create an elastic modulus database to effectively connect soft engineering materials with biological tissues such as the cardiac, kidney, liver, intestine, cartilage, and brain.

Membrane Remodeling of Human-Engineered Cardiac Tissue by Chronic Electric Stimulation.

Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) show immature features, but these are improved by integration into 3D cardiac constructs. In addition, it has been demonstrated that physical manipulations such as electrical stimulation (ES) are highly effective in improving the maturation of human-engineered cardiac tissue (hECT) derived from hiPSC-CMs. Here, we continuously applied an ES in capacitive coupling configuration, which is below the pacing threshold, to millimeter-sized hECTs for 1-2 weeks.

Directional dependence on concomitant pressure and volume increases during left ventricular filling.

Myocardial infarction continues to be a leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally. A major challenge post-myocardial infarction is scar tissue growth, which eventually can lead to heart failure. Cardiovascular regenerative strategies to minimize scar tissue growth and promote cardiac tissue formation are currently being actively pursued via the development of cardiac patches.