# name
Design of a hydrogel-based microfluidic chip for Organ-on-Chip applications

# metadata.dc.description[].value
Treballs Finals de Grau d'Enginyeria Biomèdica. Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut. Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2021-2022. Directores / Tutores: María García Díaz i Núria Torras Andrés.

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
Organ-on-chip is an emerging technology that combines microfluidic devices with 3D cell cultures
to provide in vitro models that resemble the in vivo physiology of organs and tissues. These
platforms can be used to understand the dysfunctions and pathogenesis of the body and to perform
drug development and toxicology assays. Since in colorectal cancer the survival rate is very low
when metastasis has occurred, the development of technologies that can be used to test new drugs
and improve the prognosis of the disease is essential. Organ-on-chip can be used to model the
tumor vascular microenvironment and provide a platform to understand the metastatic process by
means of a vessel-on-chip, which would simulate the blood-vessel environment. However, current
vessel-on-chip devices lack the translational capability to clinical outcomes. Therefore, in this
project we aim to design, fabricate and validate a hydrogel-based microfluidic chip for in vitro
modelling a blood vessel by embedding fibroblasts in the gel to recreate the surrounding
extracellular matrix and support the later endothelial cell seeding in its walls. On the one hand, hot
embossing technique was used to fabricate PMMA substrates of the chips. Screws and nuts were
used to seal the devices to avoid the mixture of fluids in the outlets of the different channels and
leakage. On the other hand, SLA 3D bioprinting approach was used to fabricate GelMA-PEGDA
hydrogels that sustained the encapsulated fibroblasts. Different chip geometries were designed
and validated including cell-laden hydrogels under flow conditions. Live/DeadTM assay was
performed to assess cell viability of the encapsulated fibroblasts at different time points. Results
shown that over 50% of the cells were alive after 7 days in culture in the chips, proving its feasibility,
yet attributed to the lack of medium flow in the channels due to leakage. Even though further
improvements are needed, this microfluidic device can be obtained using precise, low-cost and fast
fabrication techniques and has offered promising results in terms of cell viability.

# metadata.dc.rights[].value
cc-by-nc-nd (c) Falcó Fusté, Marta, 2022

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Treballs Finals de Grau (TFG) - Enginyeria Biomèdica

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Design of a hydrogel-based microfluidic chip for Organ-on-Chip applications