Engineering a living human Mini-heart and a swimming Bio-robot

Introduction

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still the number one cause of death worldwide despite the significant efforts of academia and the pharmaceutical industry to understand the different underlying causes of CVD.

Challenges in Current Models

These efforts have been hampered by the lack of proper human cardiac models.

1. Animal Models: Animal models have different physiology and gene expression from the human situation.
2. In Vitro Models: Flat cell culture in vitro models are not capable of producing pumping motion, which is the main function of the heart.

Regulatory Concerns

Furthermore, pesticide toxicity and risk for human health are controlled at a European level through a well-developed regulatory network. However, cardiotoxicity is not described as a separate hazard class, even though it can have long-term cardiovascular complications.

Proposed Solution

Here we propose to create better predictive in vitro cardiac models by developing:

• A vascularized beating mini-heart
• A self-propulsion swimming bio-robot

These will be made by assembling human cardiac cells into 3D tissue structures using sacrificial molding and high-resolution 3D bio-printing.

Benefits of the Project

The mini-heart and the bio-robot will enable the scientific community to have:

• A more realistic human cardiac model in vitro
• A proper tool to assess the presence of cardiotoxicants in the environment

Consortium Collaboration

This work will be done in a consortium of four parties with the necessary expertise, including:

• Heart development
• Human pluripotent stem cells
• 3D bioprinting
• Tissue engineering
• Biosensing

Together, we aim to bring these engineered living tissues to reality.