On Friday 16th January, a group from the British Heart Foundation visited some of our labs at the Centre for Predictive in vitro Models to see the research which their fundraising has made possible.

Prof Thomas Iskratsch welcomed the visitors, hosting a research lab tour and activities in our teaching lab. In the Materials Characterisation Lab, PhD student Xiangyu Wang demonstrated how to spin coat PDMS (silicone polymer Polydimethylsiloxane) with different stiffness and supervised them whilst they had a go themselves.

Lorraine Couteau, also a PhD student in Prof Iskratsch’s group, demonstrated some artery-on-chip models, and showed some cells in the chips on a microscope in the Tissue Culture Room.

Organ-chip Research Technician Miloni Shah showed them all round the world-leading Organ-chip facilities, including a demonstration of the confocal microscope from Post Doctoral Research Assistant Aishwarya Prakash.

In our large teaching lab, the visitors were able to make their own organ-chips and practice pipetting into the channels with the help of PhD students Joshua Daoud and Rachel Smyth. The researchers explained how the make-up of DNA helps them to look at the mechanical properties of arteries, and they used nanopatterning to produce a British Heart Foundation logo in the microscope. Post Doctoral Research Assistant Stefano Sala discussed the group’s research into how mechanical stress on the heart effects cardiomyocytes - specialised cells in the heart.

This research is possible thanks to a £1.2 million grant from the British Heart Foundation.

Prof Iskratsch said “The British Heart Foundation has generously supported my career over the years, from the time I first started my independent research group in 2015. Their funding has enabled my group to pursue exciting and impactful biomedical engineering research to uncover novel mechanisms of cardiovascular disease, especially into the role of mechanical and physical factors from increased heart stiffness in heart disease to hypertensive blood pressure in atherosclerosis. Through their continuing support we are now moving our research closer to translation, and we feel privileged to be able showcase our bioengineering tools and methods from micro- and nanopatterning to organ-on-a-chip devices to the British Heart Foundation and its key supporters.”

Yasmin from the British Heart Foundation said “I thoroughly enjoyed the lab tour and gaining insight into the groundbreaking research taking place in the Iskratsch Lab. It was incredibly inspiring to meet such passionate PhD students who were so generous in sharing their work and enthusiasm for discovery. Seeing just how far cardiovascular research has come - from advanced microscopy techniques to artery-on-a-chip models - was a powerful reminder of the innovation driving the future of heart research and the real impact this work could have for patients".