Chief Science Officer Materic Group, MD, United States
In biomedical research, cells cultured in vitro are used to study development and diseases outside of the human body. Typically, the health of cells in response to a treatment or over time is assessed using assays. Unfortunately, standard assays used today are slow and prone to error. At Materic, we are leveraging the power of screen printing to combine tissue constructs with electronics through our subsidiary company, Ortuvo. These fully screen printed electronic-tissue constructs can be used to study electrical activity of cells, such as muscles and neurons, in a biomimetic environment or the live progression of tissue pathologies as they influence the impedance of biological systems. Screen printing allows for the fabrication of several of these constructs at once, so this process can be high throughput and minimally variable compared to standard assays, with all measurements performed in parallel. Here, we will demonstrate the fabrication of these tissue-electrode constructs using our patented biological screen-printing technique and how they are electrically assessed using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. We will also discuss applications for the use of these constructs for academic biology research, pharmaceutical screening, and human machine interface.
