Thomas Bifano

Well Plate Reader for Micro-tugs

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
In our CELL-MET project, a key building block is the “micro-tug”, a millimeter scale piece of engineered tissue supported like a hammock between two compliant polymer pillars. We use these micro-tugs to evaluate chemical, mechanical, and electrical environmental impacts on tissue health. Our main sensing approach is to measure tissue beat rate and beat force. To date. we have built machines that can use optics to measure one micro-tug at a time. In this project, we will build an instrument that can measure 96 micro-tugs in a 12×8 array simultaneously.

LABORATORY MENTOR
Marshall Ma 

RESEARCH GOALS
• Order parts and build microscope based on existing design
• Develop software to measure force and beat rate in parallel
• Modify 96 well plates to support micro-tug devices

LEARNING GOALS
• Develop skills associated with design and fabrication of an optical system, including concepts related to resolution, contrast, field-of-view, and optical design tradeoffs
• Learn to work on a multi-person team
• Develop critical thinking and professional work habits in an intellectually challenging environment
• Become self sufficient in assigned tasks

TIMELINE
Week 1: Orientation
Weeks 2-6: Engineering development of prototype
Weeks 7-8: Synthesis and evaluation

Learn more about Professor Bifano on his faculty page.