Lung Microphysiological System (MPS)
Microphysiological systems (MPS) have emerged as promising models to better recapitulate in-vivo microenvironments of the distal lung, but they often rely on manufacturing techniques that limit their scalability and constrain non-trivial three-dimensional architectures. The goal of this project is to fabricate a lung MPS with masked stereolithography 3D printing that contains a thin (~5 µm) extracellular matrix (ECM) substrate able to sustain a co-culture of epithelial and endothelial cells which represent the alveolar-capillary barrier. We envision the capability to generate both physiologically relevant strains and microfluidic flow, and we plan to validate the device as a distal lung model through the observation of neutrophil migration and NET formation in response to epithelial infection. This method can be extended to different organ systems, potentially serving as a compelling microfabrication strategy for future MPS designs.
