High-Throughput Hydrostatic Pressure Waveform Control

Hydrostatic pressure (HP) regulates the functioning of a significant number of organs and tissues in the human body. At a cellular level, it is involved in the regulation of proliferation, di↵erentiation, migration and apoptosis. Non-physiological values of hydrostatic pressure can compromise these processes, leading to the development of severe diseases, like heart pathologies due to hypertension. Due to its impact on cell behavior, over the past two decades, many microfluidic devices have been developed to study HP and its e↵ects on cells. However, most of the devices show a significant drawback: they are low-throughput systems. Our project aims to solve this issue by proposing a device that incorporates the 96 well plate, commonly used in biological applications, with a high-throughput pressure delivery system. Our setup permits to simultaneously stimulate cells with twelve completely unique pressure conditions. Moreover, it is able to mimic real pressure waveforms, in terms of pressure range, morphology and frequency, through a PID-controlled, proportional solenoid valve control system.