Abstract

Biofabrication of Neural Microphysiological Systems

Michael Moore, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Co-founder and CSO, AxoSim Technologies, Tulane University

Microphysiological systems are being aggressively pursued as models of diseases for research and for screening drugs to better predict safety and efficacy on the path toward clinical trials. While a large number and wide variety of such systems abound, there has been relatively little progress toward the development of microphysiological models of peripheral nerve. This may be due in part because it is challenging to model the physiology of peripheral nerve in a manner that results can be interpreted in the context of human nerve function and/or disease. We have developed and reduced to commercial practice a 3D model of peripheral nerve in which axonal conduction is used as a primary functional metric, which is analogous to nerve conduction testing performed clinically. We have expanded on this recently to introduce a model of synaptic transmission from peripheral nerve to the dorsal spinal cord. This model may prove useful in the search for the next generation of pain-relieving drugs by being able measure effectiveness and parse mechanisms of different compounds without relying solely on behavioral studies in animals. As neural microphysiological models are increasingly pursued as viable commercial drug development strategies, scale-up of both fabrication and testing is rapidly becoming a major concern. We have begun to explore some unique biofabrication methods to begin to address this challenge.