Jungyeon Lee

First Name: 
Jungyeon
Last Name: 
Lee
Mentor: 
Yong Yang
Abstract: 
Blood-Brain Barrier(BBB) is a selective permeable membrane that keeps the brain safe from disease-causing pathogens. To recapitulate the in vivo environment to reproduce important BBB characteristics such as dynamic mechanical stimuli and complex architecture, we have developed the microfluidic in vitro BBB chip. While most of the current models rely on 2D system, which do not resemble actual BBB that has mechanical properties in 3D system, it was our challenge to design and bring 3D BBB chip with a nano- fabricated membrane. We designed a BBB chip model that contains microfluidic, mechanical stretch, and electrospinning fiber to reach a comparable BBB model to study the tight junction, cell behavior with a mechanical application, and trans-endothelial electrical resistance(TEER) values. Throughout the experiment, data shows mechanical properties are the influential factor in BBB chip device, although 3D modulation for BBB structure needs further studies to improve on recapitulating in-vitro model, 2D mechanical stretch shows promising data within cell behavior and TEER values.
Poster: 
Development of Blood Brain Barrier Chip