High Throughput-Ready, Chip-Based Experimental Platform to Investigate Small Arterie
Project Number
1519
Description
Background
Although changes in microvascular structure and/or function cause a multitude of cardiovascular diseases (the leading cause of death in industrialized countries), our knowledge about terminal vascular beds is rather limited. This deficiency can be primarily attributed to the enormous technical and experimental challenges presented by the small blood vessels, which make microcirculatory research slow, non-scalable and expensive.
Technology
The chip-based platform is a technology that greatly improves experimentation with microvessels. This polymer chip accurately mimics a physiological environment in which a microvessel can be loaded and studied. The portable chip also allows for automated on-chip analysis or interfacing with other analysis tools (e.g., microscopes, mass spectroscopy).
