Overview
- Researchers at Northwestern University and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab report the device in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
- A flat, flexible lattice uses controlled mechanical buckling to pop up into a gentle 3D scaffold that conforms to spherical tissues.
- The mesh hosts up to 240 individually addressable microelectrodes about 10 microns wide, enabling near-complete surface coverage and whole-network mapping.
- Recordings revealed synchronized oscillatory waves across organoids, and the platform can deliver stimulation and capture drug effects such as heightened activity with 4-aminopyridine and disrupted coordination with botulinum toxin.
- A porous design preserves metabolic exchange for tissue viability, and tunable lattice patterns can steer organoid growth into non-spherical shapes for potential modular assembly.