A thorough literature review was carried out at the beginning of the project to understand the ongoing works related to the TEER sensor development and its applications in different Organs-on-a-Chip microfluidic platforms. Commercially available TEER based devices and patents were also thoroughly studied. An initial write-up about the project was also published on the Cherry Biotech website as an act towards dissemination of the relevance of the project and also realising the positive impact it will create on providing an alternate reliable in vitro model as compared to the animal models for the pharmaceutical drug developmental process.
The project, ‘PORTable STaNDOuTs’, served to develop a novel 4-electrodes 24 multiwell TEER measuring device aimed to overcome identified not-addressed needs as already mentioned earlier. It is to be mentioned that the device was co-developed with the biosensors team at the BioSense Institute, Serbia. As such, in course of development of the device, other outcomes related to the subject of heart cells electrophysiological stimulation and recording had also been incorporated by Cherry Biotech and BioSense Institute based on other going projects (CISTEM, Grant Agreement 778354). The TEER device was also developed in such a way that it is compatible with previously developed patented microfluidic disposables (Cherry Biotech SAS, FR3094012B1) to incorporate cells maintenance and microfluidics control in a widely used standard for biological cell culturing. Additionally, as part of the project, the ER also worked with other commercially available optical and electrochemical sensors with a vision towards the importance of integrating these sensors along with that for TEER measurements. This will help in bringing about a robust and reliable microfluidic platform capable of monitoring important parameters/metabolites such as TEER, dissolved oxygen, pH, glucose and lactate, thus leading to an all-in-one in vitro device as an alternative to animal model for the drug developmental process.
The outcome of the project, ‘PORTable STaNDOuTs’, is a working prototype that is capable for making reliable and repetitive TEER or impedance-based measurements. The prototype is a novel design containing 2 pairs of electrodes in each well of a 24 multi-well plate (dimensions matching commercially available 24MW plates) that can carry out 4 terminal-based impedance measurements. The device was tested for making impedance measurements on endothelial tissue layer and is found to indicate promising results, thereby implicating the extrapolation of using this device for other cell types as well. In addition to the TEER-based experimentation, the ER was also able to optimise important parameters such as dissolved oxygen and pH by carrying out several experiments using commercially available optical flowthrough sensors when endothelial cells were subjected to perfused condition using the MPS controlling prototype developed at Cherry Biotech (CB). The outcome from these optical sensors-based experimentation will be used in the near future for other cell types when different 3D biological models will be developed at CB. Considering the novelty and the potential of the developed TEER measuring device, a patent preparation is also in progress. The impedance-based results obtained by carrying out the tasks of this project will also be published in a peer-reviewed international journal of good impact factor, that will comply to the Horizon Europe mandate for publishing scientific articles.
