Evaluation of action potentials using active electrode arrays for cardiotoxicity screening

Cardiotoxicity is one of the most common paths of failure of drug candidates due to safety concerns. However, safety testing today is based on animal models or ill-defined, overly sensitive methods such as the hERG assays. Lack of specificity may lead to wrongly discarded potential drug candidates, putting pressure on the drug development process. Moreover, many drugs affect multiple ion channels at once and cause long-term toxic effects in the cell, which requires much more detailed data analysis, multi-modal assessment, and better cellular models. Human-based models such as iPSC-derived cells and methods such as microelectrode arrays (MEA) are thus required to confidently advance drug screening. 
 
In this project, the student will leverage our high-sensitivity, multi-modal heart-on-chip model, which utilizes high-density MEAs to characterize iPSC-derived human cardiomyocyte cultures. This innovative MEA chip, equipped with subcellular-sized electrodes, will facilitate the detection of various conditions in the iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte cultures.
The student will be responsible for characterizing these cardiomyocyte cultures on the chip by analyzing action potential (AP) and impedance measurements to assess changes in AP shapes in response to drugs. Data analysis and reporting will be key components of this role.

Type of Project: Internship 

Master's degree:  Master of Engineering Technology; Master of Bioengineering 

Duration: 6-12 months 

Master program: Biomedical engineering; Bioscience Engineering; Computer Science 

Supervisor: Liesbet Lagae (Physics, Nano) 

For more information or application, please contact Mar Condor (mar.condor@imec.be)

Imec allowance will be provided.