# 3D in vitro Human Stem Cell-derived Cardiovascular Tissue Model and Microfluidic Platform for Targeted Preclinical Drug Screening

> **NIH NIH SC2** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS EL PASO · 2024 · $153,500

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT:
Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) are difficult to study and treat with pharmacological interventions
due to the need for personalized medicine regimens, limited availability of human myocardium
samples, and the difficulty associated with culturing primary cardiomyocytes in vitro for preclinical
drug testing. In vivo animal studies are currently used to screen novel CVD therapeutics but are
inefficient due to the associated high cost and advanced technical skill level. Incorporating human
induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) derived cardiovascular cells into relevant microfluidic
devices provides a controlled, reproducible, and patient-specific (targeted) platform to study in
vitro the complex process of CVD progression along with the cellular response to biochemical
and biophysical changes in their microenvironments. Current in vitro cardiovascular tissue models
incorporate cells from different sources and have not yet demonstrated a functional integration of
cardiomyocytes with capillary-like networks composed of endothelial cells. Furthermore,
microfluidic devices used with these models predominantly rely on external pumps to move fluid
through the system.
My long-term goals are to develop a patient-specific cardiovascular tissue model and
autonomous-flow microfluidic culture platform to: 1) assess the effects of pharmaceutical drug
exposure on human myocardium in vitro and 2) conduct fundamental studies of real-time
cardiomyocyte-endothelial cell-extracellular matrix interaction for cardiomyopathy, atrial
fibrillation, and atherosclerosis. The central hypothesis is that combining hiPSC derived 3D
cardiovascular tissue with an autonomous-flow microfluidic device will create a patient-specific,
physiologically relevant model that facilitates in vitro study of functional human myocardium. The
primary impact of this work is development of a targeted, single source cardiovascular tissue
model that will contribute to more effective drug discovery by reflecting human response to
therapeutics and help reduce the use of costly animal models. This work also contributes to
expanding the genetic diversity in preclinical drug testing studies so results are more
representative of the general population.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10907503
- **Project number:** 5SC2GM144164-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS EL PASO
- **Principal Investigator:** Sylvia Natividad-Diaz
- **Activity code:** SC2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $153,500
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10907503

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10907503, 3D in vitro Human Stem Cell-derived Cardiovascular Tissue Model and Microfluidic Platform for Targeted Preclinical Drug Screening (5SC2GM144164-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10907503. Licensed CC0.

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