Establishing a 96-well culture assay to study skeletal muscle cell membrane fragility

The goal of the project is to establish a high-throughput screening platform that can be used to identify small molecules that improve the muscle cell membrane fragility that is characteristic of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients. To do this, Ms. Ainoa Tejedera Villafranca will be hosted by the Gilbert Lab in Toronto to (a) be trained in the art of the Gilbert Lab ‘mini-MEndR’ culture platform; (b) to conduct studies to confirm the compatibillty of the Fernandez Costa Lab biosensor technology with the mini-MEndR platform; (c) to run proof of principle experiments to demonstrate the potential of the merged assay to be used to detect DMD membrane fragility; and if successful (d) to build an “OptoPlate” optogenetics platform to enable project independence upon return to Spain. Since the Fernandez Costa and Gilbert Lab have no prior research interactions, this exchange marks the beginning of a new pre-clinical research collaborative.

Faculty Supervisor:

Penney Gilbert

Student:

Partner:

Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto

Program: