Monitoring endothelial cells in microfluidic systems

In his thesis, Maciej Grajewski presents work on the development of micro-engineered cellular environments for investigation of endothelial cells in vitro, and a label-free method for monitoring endothelial-cell health status directly in these environments. The first objective is important, as researchers of the cardiovascular system stand to benefit from improved in vitro cell-culture formats which resemble the physiological situation in the human body. By designing in vitro endothelial cell culture devices with microchannels having dimensions resembling blood vessels, it is possible to better mimic conditions in those blood vessels. An additional advantage of a microfluidic culture approach is the ability to apply flow to endothelial cell layers, thereby reproducing the shear stress these cells experience in vivo. The cell culture system for endothelial cells developed in Maciej Grajewski's thesis should facilitate work leading to a better understanding of mechanisms underlying the onset of cardiovascular diseases. The work dedicated to the development of a new photonic tool for real-time monitoring of endothelial cell behavior led to the interrogation of a physiological phenomenon, cellular micromotion, as an indicator of cellular behavior. By observation of cellular micromotion, endothelial cell response to different culture conditions and upon exposure to drugs targeting the cellular cytoskeleton could be monitored. Moreover, these experiments were performed with a device having the dimensions of a glass microscope slide, allowing for simultaneous imaging of cell cultures during an experiment. This method thus makes real-time monitoring of cellular behavior possible, enabling experiments in which conditions can be precisely and dynamically controlled.