Design of microfluidic perfusion chambers for higher throughput screening of glaucoma drugs using a bioengineered human outflow tract

Date of Award

1-1-2015

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School/Department

Department of Nanoscale Science and Engineering

Program

Nanoscale Engineering

Content Description

1 online resource (vii, 65 pages) : color illustrations.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Susan Sharfstein

Committee Members

Susan Sharfstein, Magnus Bergkvist, Yubing Xie, Carl Ventrice, John Danias

Keywords

Design engineering, Glaucoma, Microfluidics, High throughput screening (Drug development), Microfluidic devices

Subject Categories

Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering | Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness that occurs from pressure abnormalities in the eye (intraocular pressure - IOP). A major factor for regulating IOP is the outflow of aqueous humor through the human trabecular meshwork (HTM). For this thesis, we developed and tested components, flow chambers, which can be integrated into a microfluidic flow system capable of monitoring pressure and flow conditions for a recently developed bioengineered HTM tissue. Flow chambers manufactured from PlasClear™, polycarbonate, and aluminum were evaluated in the microfluidic system and the aluminum chambers were found to be superior due to greater flow stability and repeatability. When we compared the equivalent outflow facility of the flow system to the chamber designs, no significant changes were found. However, when we added scaffolds (without HTM cells) to the aluminum chamber, we observed a change. Results from flow tests performed suggest that this system is capable of being used as a platform for high throughput screening of pharmaceutical agents.

Comments

Requested ProQuest takedown; no end date

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS