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Micromachines
Special Issues
Microengineering Techniques for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery, Volume II
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Microengineering Techniques for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery, Volume II

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "B：Biology and Biomedicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 June 2022) | Viewed by 34614

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mohsen Akbari

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory for Innovations in Microengineering (LiME), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V9P 0C8, Canada
Interests: biomaterials; tissue engineering; microfluidics; organs-on-chip; bioprinting; drug delivery; gels
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Carlos Escobedo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
Interests: microfluidics; bioMEMS; biosensing; lab-on-chip; single cell studies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Microengineering approaches are enabling technologies for creating biomimetic cell culture systems that recapitulate cell–cell and cell–tissue interactions, as well as spatiotemporal chemical gradients and dynamic mechanical microenvironments in living organs. These bioengineered systems offer unique opportunities for disease modeling and drug discovery due to their ability to promote cellular and tissue organizations which were not possible in conventional monolayer culture systems. The current Special Issue aims to address recent advances in the fabrication and operation of microengineered tissue culture platforms with particular emphasis on microfabricated tissues, single- or multi-organ-on-chip devices, 3D bioprinted tissue models, and multicellular spheroids. The interface of these systems with genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics for the better understanding of disease formation and progression is also of great interest. Moreover, we encourage manuscripts on the development of sensors for long-term monitoring of cellular microenvironments and studies reporting high-throughput designs for investigating the toxicity of drugs and their metabolites.

Dr. Mohsen Akbari
Dr. Carlos Escobedo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Microfabrication
  • Microengineering
  • Disease modeling
  • Tissue engineering
  • Drug discovery
  • Organs-on-chip

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 19876 KiB  
Article
Research on Dual-Technology Fusion Biosensor Chip Based on RNA Virus Medical Detection
by Jin Zhu and Yushan Xie
Micromachines 2022, 13(9), 1523; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13091523 - 14 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1226
Abstract
In recent years, the emergence of COVID-19 and other epidemics caused by RNA(ribonucleic acid)-type genetic viruses has aroused the close attention of governments around the world on emergency response to public safety and health emergencies. In this paper, an electrodeless biosensing detection chip [...] Read more.
In recent years, the emergence of COVID-19 and other epidemics caused by RNA(ribonucleic acid)-type genetic viruses has aroused the close attention of governments around the world on emergency response to public safety and health emergencies. In this paper, an electrodeless biosensing detection chip for RNA virus medical detection is designed using quartz crystal microbalance technology and local surface plasmon resonance technology. The plasmonic resonance characteristic in the nanostructures of gold nanorods-quartz substrates with different parameters and the surface potential distribution of the quartz crystal microbalance sensing chip were studied by COMSOL finite element simulation software. The results show that the arrangement structure and spacing of gold nanorod dimers greatly affect the local surface plasmon resonance of nanorods, which in turn affects the detection results of biomolecules. Moreover, high concentrations of “hot spots” are distributed between both ends and the gap of the gold nanorod dimer, which reflects the strong hybridization of the multiple resonance modes of the nanoparticles. In addition, by simulating and calculating the surface potential distribution of the electrode area and non-electrode area of the biosensor chip, it was found that the biosensor chip with these two areas can enhance the piezoelectric effect of the quartz chip. Under the same simulation conditions, the biochip with a completely electrodeless structure showed a better sensing performance. The sensor chip combining QCM and LSPR can reduce the influence of the metal electrode on the quartz wafer to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of detection. Considering the significant influence of the gold nanorod dimer plasma resonance mode and the significant advantages of the electrodeless biosensor chip, an electrodeless biosensor combining these two technologies is proposed for RNA virus detection and screening, which has potential applications in biomolecular measurement and other related fields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microengineering Techniques for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery, Volume II)
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18 pages, 786 KiB  
Article
In-Silico Modeling of Tumor Spheroid Formation and Growth
by Meitham Amereh, Roderick Edwards, Mohsen Akbari and Ben Nadler
Micromachines 2021, 12(7), 749; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12070749 - 25 Jun 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2988
Abstract
Mathematical modeling has significant potential for understanding of biological models of cancer and to accelerate the progress in cross-disciplinary approaches of cancer treatment. In mathematical biology, solid tumor spheroids are often studied as preliminary in vitro models of avascular tumors. The size of [...] Read more.
Mathematical modeling has significant potential for understanding of biological models of cancer and to accelerate the progress in cross-disciplinary approaches of cancer treatment. In mathematical biology, solid tumor spheroids are often studied as preliminary in vitro models of avascular tumors. The size of spheroids and their cell number are easy to track, making them a simple in vitro model to investigate tumor behavior, quantitatively. The growth of solid tumors is comprised of three main stages: transient formation, monotonic growth and a plateau phase. The last two stages are extensively studied. However, the initial transient formation phase is typically missing from the literature. This stage is important in the early dynamics of growth, formation of clonal sub-populations, etc. In the current work, this transient formation is modeled by a reaction–diffusion partial differential equation (PDE) for cell concentration, coupled with an ordinary differential equation (ODE) for the spheroid radius. Analytical and numerical solutions of the coupled equations were obtained for the change in the radius of tumor spheroids over time. Human glioblastoma (hGB) cancer cells (U251 and U87) were spheroid cultured to validate the model prediction. Results of this study provide insight into the mechanism of development of solid tumors at their early stage of formation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microengineering Techniques for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery, Volume II)
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15 pages, 1747 KiB  
Article
Investigating Commercial Filaments for 3D Printing of Stiff and Elastic Constructs with Ligament-Like Mechanics
by Audrey A. Pitaru, Jean-Gabriel Lacombe, Megan E. Cooke, Lorne Beckman, Thomas Steffen, Michael H. Weber, Paul A. Martineau and Derek H. Rosenzweig
Micromachines 2020, 11(9), 846; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11090846 - 11 Sep 2020
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4373
Abstract
The current gold standard technique for treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is reconstruction with autograft. These treatments have a relatively high failure and re-tear rate. To overcome this, tissue engineering and additive manufacturing are being used to explore the potential of [...] Read more.
The current gold standard technique for treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is reconstruction with autograft. These treatments have a relatively high failure and re-tear rate. To overcome this, tissue engineering and additive manufacturing are being used to explore the potential of 3D scaffolds as autograft substitutes. However, mechanically optimal polymers for this have yet to be identified. Here, we use 3D printing technology and various materials with the aim of fabricating constructs better matching the mechanical properties of the native ACL. A fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer was used to microfabricate dog bone-shaped specimens from six different polymers—PLA, PETG, Lay FOMM 60, NinjaFlex, NinjaFlex-SemiFlex, and FlexiFil—at three different raster angles. The tensile mechanical properties of these polymers were determined from stress–strain curves. Our results indicate that no single material came close enough to successfully match reported mechanical properties of the native ACL. However, PLA and PETG had similar ultimate tensile strengths. Lay FOMM 60 displayed a percentage strain at failure similar to reported values for native ACL. Furthermore, raster angle had a significant impact on some mechanical properties for all of the materials except for FlexiFil. We therefore conclude that while none of these materials alone is optimal for mimicking ACL mechanical properties, there may be potential for creating a 3D-printed composite constructs to match ACL mechanical properties. Further investigations involving co-printing of stiff and elastomeric materials must be explored. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microengineering Techniques for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery, Volume II)
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Review

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13 pages, 236 KiB  
Review
Tissue Engineering of Oral Mucosa and Salivary Gland: Disease Modeling and Clinical Applications
by Akram Abdo Almansoori, Bongju Kim, Jong-Ho Lee and Simon D. Tran
Micromachines 2020, 11(12), 1066; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11121066 - 30 Nov 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3163
Abstract
Oral mucosa and salivary gland are composed of complex and dynamic networks of extracellular matrix, multiple cell types, vasculature, and various biochemical agents. Two-dimensional (2D) cell culture is commonly used in testing new drugs and experimental therapies. However, 2D cell culture cannot fully [...] Read more.
Oral mucosa and salivary gland are composed of complex and dynamic networks of extracellular matrix, multiple cell types, vasculature, and various biochemical agents. Two-dimensional (2D) cell culture is commonly used in testing new drugs and experimental therapies. However, 2D cell culture cannot fully replicate the architecture, physiological, and pathological microenvironment of living human oral mucosa and salivary glands. Recent microengineering techniques offer state of the science cell culture models that can recapitulate human organ structures and functions. This narrative review describes emerging in vitro models of oral and salivary gland tissue such as 3D cell culture models, spheroid and organoid models, tissue-on-a-chip, and functional decellularized scaffolds. Clinical applications of these models are also discussed in this review. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microengineering Techniques for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery, Volume II)
18 pages, 2438 KiB  
Review
Microfluidics-Based Systems in Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Biomimetic Modeling
by Yan Li, Danni Li, Pei Zhao, Krishnaswamy Nandakumar, Liqiu Wang and Youqiang Song
Micromachines 2020, 11(9), 787; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11090787 - 19 Aug 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 5015
Abstract
Early detection and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is essential for patient care and disease treatment. Microfluidic technology is emerging as an economical and versatile platform in disease detection and diagnosis. It can be conveniently integrated with nanotechnology and/or biological models for [...] Read more.
Early detection and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is essential for patient care and disease treatment. Microfluidic technology is emerging as an economical and versatile platform in disease detection and diagnosis. It can be conveniently integrated with nanotechnology and/or biological models for biomedical functional and pre-clinical treatment study. These strengths make it advantageous in disease biomarker detection and functional analysis against a wide range of biological backgrounds. This review highlights the recent developments and trends of microfluidic applications in AD research. The first part looks at the principles and methods for AD diagnostic biomarker detection and profiling. The second part discusses how microfluidic chips, especially organ-on-a-chip platforms, could be used as an independent approach and/or integrated with other technologies in AD biomimetic functional analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microengineering Techniques for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery, Volume II)
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31 pages, 3251 KiB  
Review
Evolution of Biochip Technology: A Review from Lab-on-a-Chip to Organ-on-a-Chip
by Neda Azizipour, Rahi Avazpour, Derek H. Rosenzweig, Mohamad Sawan and Abdellah Ajji
Micromachines 2020, 11(6), 599; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11060599 - 18 Jun 2020
Cited by 148 | Viewed by 16972
Abstract
Following the advancements in microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technologies, a novel biomedical application for microfluidic based devices has emerged in recent years and microengineered cell culture platforms have been created. These micro-devices, known as organ-on-a-chip (OOC) platforms mimic the in vivo like microenvironment [...] Read more.
Following the advancements in microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technologies, a novel biomedical application for microfluidic based devices has emerged in recent years and microengineered cell culture platforms have been created. These micro-devices, known as organ-on-a-chip (OOC) platforms mimic the in vivo like microenvironment of living organs and offer more physiologically relevant in vitro models of human organs. Consequently, the concept of OOC has gained great attention from researchers in the field worldwide to offer powerful tools for biomedical researches including disease modeling, drug development, etc. This review highlights the background of biochip development. Herein, we focus on applications of LOC devices as a versatile tool for POC applications. We also review current progress in OOC platforms towards body-on-a-chip, and we provide concluding remarks and future perspectives for OOC platforms for POC applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microengineering Techniques for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery, Volume II)
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