Building gyms for cells - development of combinatorial screening platforms for mechanical stimulation

This thesis describes the development and validation of medium throughput combinatorial screening platforms for mechanical stimulation of cells. The developed platforms allow for the simultaneous application of substrate strains and flow-induced shear stresses to cells and can test for 100 conditions per device. Two devices were developed - one allows for the screening of all combinations of five equibiaxial strains and five shear stresses, each with four replicates. The other device can screen for the effects of four anisotropic biaxial strains, each aligned at five separate angles to flow-induced shear stress and five equibiaxial strains, and all of these conditions with four replicates. The devices were designed with the help of computational modeling, fabricated, characterized empirically and validated with cell studies. Screenings for relevant biological applications such as in pre-vascularized tissue engineering and in osteogenic-adipoenic differentiation balance have also been explored.