Participation of the DEM in The 2nd Extracellular Matrix Pharmacology Congress ECM2024

Our colleague Héctor Sanz had the opportunity to attend the ECM2024 congress, which was held in Copenhagen from June 17 to 19, 2024. The congress, organized by the International Society of Extracellular Matrix Pharmacology and focused on the study of the extracellular matrix, presents the latest advances in the mechanical and biological fields of the main component of human organs: the extracellular matrix. Our colleague was able to present, in poster format, a new cell culture chip to study the mechanisms of pulmonary fibrosis.

The developed chip is made of PDMS, a biocompatible material, and is designed to modulate a cyclic stretch for cell culture, mimicking the deformations that fibroblasts undergo in the lung. Additionally, the developed chip has a height of only 7 mm, which allows its use in different devices, such as an AFM or a confocal microscope, to quantify the physical and mechanical response of the cells due to the stretching that the chip is applying to them. The motivation of the study is to investigate the relationship between different mechanical stimuli and pulmonary fibrosis, a disease characterized by excessive and uncontrolled generation of extracellular matrix in the lungs, leading to severe dysfunction and loss of biomechanical homeostasis.

The modulation of the level of deformation and frequency using this chip will clarify the existing correlation between these mechanical stimuli and their potential impact on the progression of pulmonary fibrosis.