In the last period of research, we focused on the following aims:
Platform development: – we developed a “Smart”-Organ-on-a-Chip which allows measuring the vascular functionality with spatial resolution. This work was published in Lab Chip (Renous, Noa, et al. "Spatial trans-epithelial electrical resistance (S-TEER) integrated in organs-on-chips." Lab on a Chip 22.1 (2022): 71-79, back cover)). In addition, we developed a modular chip that can transform a culture well into a chip, which saves time, money and it allows translate this technology to other labs how wish to use organs-on-a-chip technology in their lab. This work was published in APL bioengineering (Rauti, Rossana, et al. "Transforming a well into a chip: A modular 3D-printed microfluidic chip." APL bioengineering 5.2 (2021): 026103).
Covid: During the beginning of the SweetBrain project, the world pandemic started, and we joined the world effort to get more knowledge on the pandemic. To do so, we identified which of the 29 proteins which create the SARS-Cov-2 virus, has the most significant on the vasculature. We identified that 5 proteins reduce the ability of the vasculature to protect the tissues. Furthermore, we developed a computational model to predict how each one of the SARS-Cov-2 can affect the different tissues in the body. This work was published in Elife (Rauti, Rossana, et al. "Effect of SARS-CoV-2 proteins on vascular permeability." Elife 10 (2021): e69314.).
This was extremely novel, as when we published our work, there were about 100,000 papers which are Covid-related, but less then 10 on the effect of Covid on the vasculature.
This had a major impact and received a lot news coverage including national and international media (news and TV).
In addition to the work that was published, we have new unpublished data that provides insights into the effect of glucose on the endothelium, astrocytes, and neurons, which was identified by using a human-relevant advanced in vitro platform.
Dissemination and enriching the field:
The dissemination was both in scientific journals and in other means.
Scientific journal: we published three review papers that give an overview of the field. These reviews were published in Annual Reviews, APL bioengineering and Cells and Tissue research: Hajal, Cynthia, et al. "Biology and Models of the Blood–brain Barrier." Annual review of biomedical engineering 23 (2021): 359-384.; Maoz, Ben M. "Brain-on-a-Chip: Characterizing the next generation of advanced in vitro platforms for modeling the central nervous system." APL bioengineering 5.3 (2021): 030902; Maoz, Ben M., et al. "Technology-based approaches toward a better understanding of neuro-coagulation in brain homeostasis." Cell and tissue research (2021): 1-6.
Other means: I participated in more than 50 scientific conferences, and our work was promoted in the media (including TV, radio and newspapers).
