Keywords

piezoelectric cantilevers, piezoresistive cantilevers, stress test-on-a-chip, microphysiological systems, cardiac electrical stimulation, arrhythmogenicity

Abstract

Microcantilever sensors and microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are currently used in microphysiological body-on-a-chip systems for the assessment of mechanical and electrical function of human cardiac muscle tissues. However, existing microcantilever devices used in these systems do not acquire direct electrical signals and often utilize imaging or optical detection methods to measure the contractile force of human cardiac tissues and the use of MEAs most often focuses only on unstressed cardiac tissues. New biomedical microelectromechanical systems (bioMEMS) chip-based systems have been developed for more advanced cardiac therapeutic evaluation. This work describes the design, fabrication, and characterization of a piezoelectric microcantilever device, for both sensing and actuation, and a piezoresistive microcantilever strain sensor along with their custom amplification electronics for the ability of high-throughput, real-time, continuous force measurements for in vitro cardiac systems. These devices were developed in a format that would enable integration into a multi-organ body-on-a-chip system. In addition, a new method of using MEA technology for the electrical stimulation of cardiac cells was developed to create a stress test-on-a-chip for functional measurements of cardiac muscle, specifically during exercise-related stress for the detection of arrhythmogenicity at both resting and elevated heart rates. The incorporation of a microcantilever strain sensor and an MEA into a single microphysiological system, with the ability to create a stressed cardiac environment, will offer increased functional testing with the evaluation of contractile force in cardiac muscle and electrical activity in cardiac tissue. This has the potential to allow for a more complete and clinically relevant model including basic physiological investigation, pharmaceutical compound development, cardiotoxicity and efficacy studies, and predictive toxicology.

Completion Date

2023

Semester

Fall

Committee Chair

Hickman, James

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Degree Program

Electrical Engineering

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

DP0028862

Language

English

Rights

In copyright

Release Date

12-15-2025

Length of Campus-only Access

1 year

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Campus-only Access)

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Accessibility Status

Meets minimum standards for ETDs/HUTs

Restricted to the UCF community until 12-15-2025; it will then be open access.

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