Abstract

Janus Base Nano-matrix Enabled Cartilage-on-a-Chip for Drug Screening Applications

Yupeng Chen, Associate Professor, University of Connecticut

To achieve biomimetic microenvironment for engineered tissues, it is important to have biomaterial scaffolds to support cell anchorage and functions. However, conventional solid scaffolds are not injectable so they have limitations for applications in “difficult-to-reach” locations, such as microchannels of tissues-on-chips or deep-tissue damage; hydrogels are semisolid materials so they don’t have solid surface for cell anchorage which could be a limitation in space. To overcome this challenge, we have developed a family of self-assembled scaffolds, named Janus base nano-matrices (JBNms). JBNms are formed by the self-assembly between Janus base nanotubes (JBNts, non-covalent nanotubes mimicking DNA base pairs) and extracellular matrix proteins (such as matrilin, a cartilage specific protein). We have also found that the JBNm presented synergistic functions from JBNts and matrilin, which can create a microenvironment selectively promoting chondrogenesis and stem cell differentiation. Moreover, the JBNm-enabled cartilage-on-a-chip demonstrated significantly improved reusability and longevity. These JBNm cartilage-on-chips can be used for disease modeling and drug screening for a variety of situations.