Reliability and Validity of the KFORCE Sens Inertial Sensor for Measuring Cervical Spine Proprioception in Patients with Non-Specific Chronic Neck Pain.

Background/objectives: Patients with non-specific chronic neck pain (NSCNP) exhibit sensorimotor disturbances, with proprioception impairment considered an important aspect. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a novel inertial sensor-based electrogoniometer (KFORCE Sens) for cervical spine (CS) proprioception measurement in patients with NSCNP.

Methods: The within-day intra-rater reliability of CS proprioception and its association with patient demographics and clinical status were examined in fifty-nine patients with NSCNP, aged between 25-65 years, recruited from primary care.

Nanofibrillar Basement Membrane Mimic Made of Recombinant Functionalized Spider Silk in Custom-Made Tissue Culture Inserts.

Replicating tissue barriers is critical for generating relevant in vitro models for evaluating novel therapeutics. Today, this is commonly done using tissue culture inserts with a plastic membrane, which generates an apical and a basal side. Besides providing support for the cells, these membranes come far from emulating their native counterpart, the basement membrane, which is a nanofibrillar, protein-based matrix.

Standalone single- and bi-layered human skin 3D models supported by recombinant silk feature native spatial organization.

Physiologically relevant human skin models that include key skin cell types can be used fordrug testing, skin pathology studies, or clinical applications such as skin grafts. However, there is still no golden standard for such a model. We investigated the potential of a recombinant functionalized spider silk protein, FN-silk, for the construction of a dermal, an epidermal, and a bilayered skin equivalent (BSE).

Development and characterization of a recombinant silk network for 3D culture of immortalized and fresh tumor-derived breast cancer cells.

Traditional cancer models rely on 2D cell cultures or 3D spheroids, which fail to recapitulate cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions, a key element of tumor development. Existing hydrogel-based 3D alternatives lack mechanical support for cell growth and often suffer from low reproducibility. Here we report a novel strategy to make 3D models of breast cancer using a tissue-like, well-defined network environment based on recombinant spider silk, functionalized with a cell adhesion motif from fibronectin (FN-silk).

A device for high-throughput monitoring of degradation in soft tissue samples.

This work describes the design and validation of a novel device, the High-Throughput Degradation Monitoring Device (HDD), for monitoring the degradation of 24 soft tissue samples over incubation periods of several days inside a cell culture incubator. The device quantifies sample degradation by monitoring its deformation induced by a static gravity load. Initial instrument design and experimental protocol development focused on quantifying cartilage degeneration.