"Creating Vascularized Tissue Constructs in Microfluidic Assays"

Roger Kamm, Ph.D.
Cecil & Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Biological & Mechanical Engineering Director, NSF Science & Technology Center on
Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Vascularization is critical to most tissues, yet developing a perfusable microvascular network within an on-chip tissue construct has proved challenging. Several approaches have been developed in recent years including the casting of networks within a hydrogel matrix that can subsequently be lined with vascular cells, and the growth of networks from cells seeded either on the surface of a hydrogel by angiogenesis, or from cells suspended in gel by a process akin to vasculogenesis. Our previous work has followed the second path in producing networks within microfluidic platforms that can be perfused within several days of seeding. These networks can be grown in various matrices either in co-culture with other cell types such as fibroblasts, myoblasts or osteoblasts, or in isolation. To date, the best results have been obtained by co-culture with normal lung fibroblasts in separate gel regions, using a fibrin-based extracellular matrix. Recently, these systems have been scaled up to mm-sized regions and the fibroblasts are co-seeded with the endothelial cells, leading to vascularized networks that are perfusable for three weeks with potential applications for in vitro organ-on-chip systems. Acknowledgments: The US National Science Foundation (CBET-0939511).

Bio: Roger D. Kamm is the Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering and Director of the NSF Science and Technology Center for Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems. A primary objective of Kamm’s research group has been the application of fundamental concepts in fluid and solid mechanics to better understand essential biological and physiological phenomena. His lab currently develops new microfluidic technologies for the study of 3D cellular systems with an emphasis on engineered vascularized tissues and models of metastatic cancer. Kamm is the recipient of the ASME Lissner Award and the European Society of Biomechanics Huiskes Medal. He was elected to the US Institute of Medicine in 2010. He is co-founder of two companies, CardioVascular Technologies, and AIM Biotech.