A high throughput array microscope for the mechanical characterization of biomaterials.
In the last decade, the emergence of high throughput screening has enabled the development of novel drug therapies and elucidated many complex cellular processes. Concurrently, the mechanobiology community has developed tools and methods to show that the dysregulation of biophysical properties and the biochemical mechanisms controlling those properties contribute significantly to many human diseases. Despite these advances, a complete understanding of the connection between biomechanics and disease will require advances in instrumentation that enable parallelized, high throughput assays capable of probing complex signaling pathways, studying biology in physiologically relevant conditions, and capturing specimen and mechanical heterogeneity. Traditional biophysical instruments are unable to meet this need. To address the challenge of large-scale, parallelized biophysical measurements, we have developed an automated array high-throughput microscope system that utilizes passive microbead diffusion to characterize mechanical properties of biomaterials. The instrument is capable of acquiring data on twelve-channels simultaneously, where each channel in the system can independently drive two-channel fluorescence imaging at up to 50 frames per second. We employ this system to measure the concentration-dependent apparent viscosity of hyaluronan, an essential polymer found in connective tissue and whose expression has been implicated in cancer progression.
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 345 Chapman Hall, CB #3255, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Jeremy
J
Cribb
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 345 Chapman Hall, CB #3255, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Lukas D
LD
Osborne
Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sitterson Hall, CB #3175, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Joe Ping-Lin
JP
Hsiao
Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sitterson Hall, CB #3175, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Leandra
L
Vicci
Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sitterson Hall, CB #3175, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Alok
A
Meshram
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 345 Chapman Hall, CB #3255, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
E Tim
ET
O'Brien
Rheomics Inc., B40 Chapman Hall CB #3255, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Richard Chasen
RC
Spero
Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sitterson Hall, CB #3175, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Russell
R
Taylor
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 345 Chapman Hall, CB #3255, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Richard
R
Superfine
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002138:Calibration; D004867:Equipment Design; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012212:Rheology; D012984:Software
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid