Evaluating the health of primary human airway epithelial cell cultures grown at air-liquid interface

There are many ways for scientists to study lung diseases. One way that scientists try to understand lung disease is by growing and examining lung cells in the lab. While most cells are grown submerged in special liquid that provides the cells with nutrients, a more sophisticated model is to grow cells in an air liquid interface with the top surface of cells exposed to air and the bottom to the liquid with nutrition. This more closely mimics the real life situation. When cells are studied in air liquid interface it is very important to make sure they are not damaged by the experiment unintentionally. The purpose of this current proposal is to build a kit that can be easily used by researchers to study if cells grown at air liquid interface have been damaged.

Faculty Supervisor:

Theo Moraes

Student:

Natalie Ronaghan

Partner:

StemCell Technologies

Discipline:

Medicine

Sector:

Medical devices

University:

University of Toronto