Flexible electronic scaffold that feeds and monitors lab-grown heart tissue
Flexible bioelectronics platform converging capillary-like delivery network and sensing feedback network for improving cardiac tissue engineering
This project builds flexible electronic scaffolds that deliver nutrients and monitor lab-grown human heart tissue to help improve models and future treatments for people with heart disease.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Massachusetts Amherst NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Hadley, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11187193 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers are making ultra-flexible, stretchable microelectronics that act like tiny blood capillaries to supply oxygen and nutrients deep inside three-dimensional human heart tissue grown in the lab. The system also includes a matching network of soft sensors that continually read tissue health and send data for real-time analysis. The team will combine these delivery and sensing networks with heart cells made from human induced pluripotent stem cells to encourage more mature, organ-like development. Over the project period they will test how well the platform improves tissue function and how the sensing data links to cellular changes.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants would be people with heart disease or healthy volunteers who can donate blood or small tissue samples for making patient-derived stem cell lines.
Not a fit: Patients seeking immediate clinical treatment are unlikely to benefit directly because this is laboratory development rather than a therapy-ready intervention.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could produce more realistic human heart tissue for better disease models and could eventually improve cell-based therapies or grafts for heart disease patients.
How similar studies have performed: Related work on hiPSC-derived heart organoids and vascularized scaffolds has shown promise for improving tissue maturity, but combining capillary-like delivery with an integrated bioelectronic sensing network is a novel approach.
Where this research is happening
Hadley, United States
- University of Massachusetts Amherst — Hadley, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Yao, Jun — University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Study coordinator: Yao, Jun
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 below.