Engineering human muscle tissue with PEGylated fibrinogen

Loss of skeletal muscle integrity arising from disease, injury, or genetic conditions is debilitating to human health and happiness. Efforts aimed at identifying drugs that improve skeletal muscle strength and form relies on assays of cells grown within two-dimensional culture dishes. While this format has served the community well for several decades, three-dimensional tissue models are emerging as more faithful models of human tissues. The Gilbert Lab (Canada) recently developed a 96-well custom built screening platform that supports the growth and maturation of miniature human skeletal muscle tissues. The Seliktar Lab (Israel) created a semi-synthetic polymer that is well suited to support muscle maturation. In this Student Mobility Innovation Initiative, the Gilbert lab will test the utility of the Seliktar Lab polymer to replace a costly component of their platform thereby overcoming cost and reproducibility issues that hinder widespread adoption of the system.

Faculty Supervisor:

Penney Gilbert

Student:

Partner:

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto

Program: