VIBROSHEARTM: A SYSTEM FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT DRUG DISCOVERY OF AGENTS LIMITING SHEAR-MEDIATED CELL (PLATELET) ACTIVATION

Abstract

The goal of the VibroshearTM project is to design and build a system for high throughput drug screening of agents that limit shear mediated platelet activation. For context, thrombosis and clotting complications are a major risk associated with implantation of cardiovascular therapeutic devices (CTDs). The force behind this phenomenon are platelets which are responsible for blood coagulation and activate in response to shear force imparted upon blood flowing through the physical path of these artificial cardiovascular devices. To limit blood clot formation, patients are often prescribed drugs that biochemically target pathways associated with platelet activation. Thus far in the Slepian lab, studies have found that no particular drugs in clinical use are able to block shear-mediated platelet activation since they were not developed to target mechanical mechanisms such as shear. That said, this system provides activation of platelets (within Gel-Filtered-Platelets) to allow for screening of new drugs that will be tested within a lab space to inhibit this activation. To achieve this, the system consists of a magnetically driven stir-plate fit to a 96-well plate with a specialized lid, enabling efficient agitation of the samples. To complement the experimental setup, a custom app streamlines data acquisition and analysis.