Controlled electromechanical cell stimulation on-a-chip
Abstract
Stem cell research has yielded promising advances in regenerative medicine, but standard assays generally lack the ability to combine different cell stimulations with rapid sample processing and precise fluid control. In this work, we describe the design and fabrication of a micro-scale cell stimulator capable of simultaneously providing mechanical, electrical, and biochemical stimulation, and subsequently extracting detailed morphological and gene-expression analysis on the cellular response. This micro-device offers the opportunity to overcome previous limitations and recreate critical elements of the in vivo microenvironment in order to investigate cellular responses to three different stimulations. The platform was validated in experiments using human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. These experiments demonstrated the ability for inducing changes in cell morphology, cytoskeletal fiber orientation and changes in gene expression under physiological stimuli. This novel bioengineering approach can be readily applied to various studies, especially in the fields of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.
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BibTeX
@article{pavesi2026controlled,
title = {{Controlled electromechanical cell stimulation on-a-chip}},
author = {Andrea Pavesi and Giulia Adriani and Marco Rasponi and Ioannis K. Zervantonakis and Gianfranco B. Fiore and Roger D. Kamm},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/srep11800},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05776424v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Controlled electromechanical cell stimulation on-a-chip
AU - Andrea Pavesi
AU - Giulia Adriani
AU - Marco Rasponi
AU - Ioannis K. Zervantonakis
AU - Gianfranco B. Fiore
AU - Roger D. Kamm
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/03
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/srep11800
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05776424v1
AB - Stem cell research has yielded promising advances in regenerative medicine, but standard assays generally lack the ability to combine different cell stimulations with rapid sample processing and precise fluid control. In this work, we describe the design and fabrication of a micro-scale cell stimulator capable of simultaneously providing mechanical, electrical, and biochemical stimulation, and subsequently extracting detailed morphological and gene-expression analysis on the cellular response. This micro-device offers the opportunity to overcome previous limitations and recreate critical elements of the in vivo microenvironment in order to investigate cellular responses to three different stimulations. The platform was validated in experiments using human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. These experiments demonstrated the ability for inducing changes in cell morphology, cytoskeletal fiber orientation and changes in gene expression under physiological stimuli. This novel bioengineering approach can be readily applied to various studies, especially in the fields of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -