Automated single-cell heart cell measurements to test drugs
Official title: Enhancing Drug Screening with Automated Single-Cell Electrophysiology and Contractility Measurements in iPSC-CMs
Funded at University of North Carolina Charlotte · NIH-11464806 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A new automated system will quickly measure electrical signals and beating force in heart cells derived from a patient’s own stem cells to help predict drug safety.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of North Carolina Charlotte NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Charlotte, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2025 |
| Project end | July 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $462,000 |
| NIH project number | 5R33HL175688-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11464806 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Not applicable to patient participants in this grant; the work uses patient-derived stem cells for in vitro testing.
✕Less likely to help
Direct patient therapy is not part of this study; benefits are related to safer drugs in the future.
What this research studies
Researchers will use human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and an automated MEMS-based system to capture action potentials and contraction forces in single cells. The goal is high-content, rapid analysis of how drugs affect heart cell function, improving safety screening. This could speed up drug testing while reducing reliance on slow, traditional techniques like patch clamping.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the approach could make drug safety testing faster and more precise, potentially reducing cardiotoxicity in new medicines.
How similar studies have gone: Prior methods show that automated, high-content measurements can enhance cardiotoxicity detection, but this integrates multiple technologies for single-cell analysis.
Where this research is happening
-
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Charlotte, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Gaitas, Angelo — University of North Carolina Charlotte
- Study coordinator: Gaitas, Angelo
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.