Engineering Scalable Microfluidic Platforms to Study Vascular Endothelial Cells and Biological Barriers

This PhD research focused on creating advanced tools to study blood vessels and biological barriers such as the blood-brain barrier, skin, and lungs. These tools, known as organ-on-chip systems, mimics human body conditions to better understand cell behavior and disease, and to accelerate drug development. Conventional systems often fail to meet industrial pharmaceutical needs for consistency, compatibility, and scalability, and this work addresses these challenges.
The first goal was to design a platform that models blood vessels, focusing on venous malformations, a rare vascular diseases with enlarged vessels, slow flow and limited treatment options. Using a standard 96-well plate format, the platform replicated blood flow and stress on cells without relying on complex pumping systems. It helped study how normal and diseased endothelial cells function under physiological and disease conditions.
The second goal was to develop models for biological barriers in the brain, lung, and skin integrating barrier forming cells, porous membranes and electrical sensors to monitor barrier integrity. These models can test how substances pass through barriers with architectures that support automation for faster and more reliable testing.
Overall, these platforms bridge the gap between simple lab setups and complex biological systems, offering scalable, standardized, and user-friendly tools for research, drug development, and disease studies.