{"id":8240,"date":"2025-05-10T11:26:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T16:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/?p=8240"},"modified":"2026-01-22T13:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:40:10","slug":"bifano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/2025\/05\/10\/bifano\/","title":{"rendered":"Enhancing Cardiac Microbundle Stability for Improved In-Vitro Force Measurement"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Mentors<\/h3>\n<p><span>\n\t<ul class=\"profile-listing profile-format-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-4312 profile type-profile status-publish hentry departments-bme departments-ece departments-mse-dept departments-me affiliation-faculty affiliation-staff program-year-yr-2015 program-year-yr-2016 program-year-yr-2017 program-year-yr-2018 program-year-yr-2019 program-year-yr-2021 program-year-yr-2022 program-year-yr-2023 program-year-yr-2024\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/profile\/thomas-bifano\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/09\/Bifano_HS-Cropped-copy-600x600-1-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Thomas Bifano**<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">Center Director, Professor (BME, ECE, ME, MSE)<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-6631 profile type-profile status-publish hentry departments-me affiliation-graduate-student program-year-yr-2022 program-year-yr-2023 program-year-yr-2024\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/profile\/ruifeng-hu-2\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/04\/Ruifeng-Hu-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Ruifeng Hu<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">PhD Candidate<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"margin-top: 0;\">Project Description<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, yet breakthroughs in cardiac research remain challenging. Animal models fail to fully replicate human heart physiology, while studying live human hearts is ethically restrictive. Cardiac Microbundles (CMBs), composed of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) and cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), offer a promising in-vitro platform. These cells self-assemble into tissue that anchors onto polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) scaffold with two compliant pillars. The contractile force of CMBs, a key performance metric, is inferred from pillar bending.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">A major challenge in this system is that CMBs frequently detach (\u201cpop-off\u201d) from the scaffold pillars during contraction. Features on pillar tops help stabilize CMBs, but increasing pillar size makes demolding difficult. A more feasible approach is to first fabricate scaffolds with standard pillar tops and then add stabilizing structures. Nanoscribe, a high-precision 3D printer, can produce micrometer-scale umbrella- shaped &#8220;cages&#8221; that attach to pillar tops, providing additional adhesion points for CMBs. However, the current press-fit method does not guarantee cage stability, which is essential for precise force measurements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In this project, the REU student will learn scaffold fabrication and perform mechanical testing on scaffolds with cages to assess their stability. This research aims to improve in-vitro cardiac force measurement, advancing tissue-based cardiac studies.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><div class=\" bu-callout alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/12\/4L3A9600-636x424.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"448\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5958\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Research Participant<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Program: CELL-MET\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Hear what Ben is taking with him from his time at BU.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href='https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/2025\/08\/10\/benjamin-wolking\/' class='button button'>Learn More<\/a><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container  bu_collapsible_open\" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Research Goals<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" >\n<ul>\n<li>Learn scaffold fabrication techniques, including PDMS molding and assembly.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Explore methods to improve the fit of the cage on pillar tops to achieve stable attachment and minimize relative movement.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Assess CMB performance on scaffolds with and without cages to evaluate the cage\u2019s effectiveness in stabilizing the tissue.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container  bu_collapsible_open\" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Learning Goals<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" >\n<ul>\n<li>Gain hands-on experience with PDMS molding and the mold-making process.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Develop a broad understanding of tissue engineering as a research field.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Understand how researchers optimize experimental platforms, using the cage addition as a case study in designing, implementing, and evaluating system improvements.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Timeline<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Week 1: <\/strong><\/span>Review literature and have a general understanding of cardiac tissue engineering.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Weeks 2-4:<\/strong><\/span> Learn basic PDMS molding skills.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Week 5:<\/strong><\/span> <spanaptos narrow=\"\" arial=\"\" font-style:normal=\"\" color:=\"\" 000000=\"\" data-sheets-root=\"1\"><\/spanaptos> Learn to assemble cage into scaffold.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Weeks 6-9:<\/strong><\/span> CMBs will be seeded on scaffolds with cages. Mechanical measurements will be conducted on these scaffolds.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Weeks 10:<\/strong><\/span> Poster<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mentors Project Description Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, yet breakthroughs in cardiac research remain challenging. Animal models fail to fully replicate human heart physiology, while studying live human hearts is ethically restrictive. Cardiac Microbundles (CMBs), composed of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) and cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), offer a promising in-vitro [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[118],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19768"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8240"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10377,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240\/revisions\/10377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}