Master ́s thesis

Master ́s thesis

Title:

On-chip Cultivation, Monitoring and Drug Screening of Multicellular Spheroids on a Nano Biointerface

A long-standing trend in pharmaceutical development, toxicology and biomedicine has been the establishment of complex three- dimensional (3D) multicellular spheroids. These organ-like structures resemble the physiological functions of human tissues. To meet the growing need to improve the predictive power of preclinical studies, multicellular spheroids integrated into a biochip builds on the advancement of the so-called organ-on-a-chip technology that establishes, cultivates and tests a wide variety of clinical-relevant drugs in a high- throughput manner.

 

Goal:

  • Design and development of a microfluidic system to produce multicellular spheroids under physiological conditions in cooperation with the Technical University Vienna.

  • Surface modificationof microfluidic channels by coating with S-layer protein SbpA that acts as a suitable support for spheroid formation.

  • High-throughput screening of combinatorial anti-cancer drug candidates off- and on-chip.

Methods:

  • Mammalian cell culture techniques

  • S-layer technology

  • Toxicity screening, fluorescence microscopy, immunohistochemistry, live-cell imaging

  • Micro fabrication of biochips (rapid prototyping)

     

Start: Autumn 2018
Duration: 6-9 months Contact: Institut für Synthetische Bioarchitekturen seta.kuepcue@boku.ac.at