Novel Modular In Vitro Platform for the Study of External Force on Tissue

One of the biggest challenges of cell cultures in vitro is mimicking the mechano-physiological forces applied to cells including applying external forces. While different approaches were demonstrated, none of them were able to induce external force without touching the cells which can be tuned and changed over time. In this work, we developed a modular platform that enables the induction of external forces on cells, without direct contact, with different forces, durations, and that can be applied to multiple cell types. In this work, we demonstrate the strength and versatility of the system by two examples: preload-and afterload: we demonstrate how applying an external force on cardiomyocytes enables us to better assess drug response and cardio-physiology; and traumatic brain injuries (TBI): here we demonstrate how such a system can decouple the forces which apply on the brain during TBI and assist us to better understand the neuronal response to injury. It is important to note that this platform is very versatile and allows us to apply it to various tissues for better mimicking the forces which are applied to tissues in vivo.