PhD position on Developing Modular Microfluidic Organ-on-Chip Technology for High-Throughput Experiments

The BIOS Lab-on-a-Chip chair (“Miniaturized systems for biomedical and environmental applications”) aims at the research and development of Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) systems. The applied stem cell technology (AST) group aims making patient-specific replicas of the human body, so that every patient can get tailor-made medicine. Both groups are embedded within both the MESA+ institute for Nanotechnology and the TechMed institute. MESA+ is one of the world’s largest nanotechnology research institutes; and it’s the largest research institute in this field in the Netherlands. TechMed is the University of Twente's research Centre for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine.

Research in this project will be part of the “NXTGEN Hightech, Biomedical Production Technologies” growth fund project funded by the Dutch government. This project is a continuation of our recently published work, see the following links for details:

1.       https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-020-00216-z
2.       https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0063428
3.       https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-021-00556-1

Job specifications
The field: Organ-on-Chip (OoC) is a game-changing approach in which human cells are cultured in microfluidic chips simulating and predicting the response of healthy and diseased human tissues. OoC has the potential to revolutionize today’s biomedical testing procedures that often involve ethically challenged animal testing and, most importantly, lead to variable results. Despite its promise, OoC adoption is hampered by profound technical and functional limitations. In this multidisciplinary project, engineers and biomedical researchers join forces to overcome these limitations by developing a novel OoC platform based on modular microfluidic building blocks (MFBB) and fluidic circuit boards (FCB) [2].

The aim: High-throughput experimentation is essential to this field, as OoC technology is used to e.g. find new stem cell differentiation protocols [3], to screen new pharmaceuticals, or screen toxicological effects. Our approach to this problem is to use pneumatically actuated valves to address many individual cell culture chambers individually by multiplexing [1]. In this project we want to push multiplexing technology by improving our valve technology. This includes possible development of electrostatically driven valves, and by extending the range of materials we use to fabricate our microfluidic chips.

Are you interested in this position? Please send your application via the ‘Apply now’ button before April 15, 2023, and include a CV and motivation letter.

For questions regarding this position, contact Mathieu Odijk ([email protected]) or Andries van der Meer ([email protected]).

The faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) uses mathematics, electronics and computer technology to contribute to the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). With ICT present in almost every device and product we use nowadays, we embrace our role as contributors to a broad range of societal activities and as pioneers of tomorrow's digital society. As part of a people-first tech university that aims to shape society, individuals and connections, our faculty works together intensively with industrial partners and researchers in the Netherlands and abroad, and conducts extensive research for external commissioning parties and funders. Our research has a high profile both in the Netherlands and internationally. It has been accommodated in three multidisciplinary UT research institutes: Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Centre and Digital Society Institute.