Group Luttge

We already have developed a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based microbioreactor that records neuro-electrophysiological activity in 3D neuronal cell cultures derived from a commercial healthy human induced Pluripotent Stem Cell source. Furthermore, recent studies in our group have found that nanogrooves created on tissue culture substrates align neurite outgrowth and hence connect neurons with directional preference. Therefore, we present nanogrooves and similar nanofeatures to the stem cells during differentiation via the surfaces of the chip, which will form unique new interfaces to grow in vivo-like brain tissue for pre-clinical experiments. Our group enables to devise these microbioreactors for applications using patient-derived neuronal stem cells. We provide showcases for Epilepsy, Parkinson’s Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) that may be extrapolated to other neurodegenerative diseases. Above all, the proof-of-concepts that are obtained within our projects provide us with the first steps in the research and development path towards early-stage business development and applied research of the manufacturing, reliable handling and read-out of these specific class of microphysiological systems through close collaboration with our (bio)medical partners.