Electrical stimulation of Cardiomyocytes in a Heart-on-a-Chip
Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is a serious health status affecting 33 million worldwide. The drug development for AF is cost intensive and a time-consuming process. Organ-on-Chip technology has the potential to revolutionize drug development. While conventional processes involve animal testing, this number can be reduced significantly by using human stem cell derived cardiomyocytes.
The goal of this internship is the culture of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes in our organ-on-chip and to pace the cells using the gold electrodes in the chip. Pacing is followed by contraction observation using microscopy and impedance measurement. The effect of heart rhythm influencing drugs on the paced cells will be studied.
The internship involves chip production in the FabLab, chemical bonding techniques, sputter coating, cell culture, cell pacing, microscopy techniques and impedance measurements.
Project duration:
Spring 2025/2026 (02-02-2026 – 10-07-2026)
Internship or graduation project:
Open for internship or graduation project
Educational programs:
- Biology and Medical Lab (BML)
Interested? Please send your motivation letter and CV before the 23rd of November 2025 to appliednanotechnology.led@saxion.nl and include Michelle Fleermann (m.fleermann@saxion.nl) in the CC