□ Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), led by President Yang Kuk, announced on September 26 (Tuesday), 2023, that the research team, led by In-kyu Moon, Professor at the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering of DGIST, developed a new technology for analyzing the motility of cardiac muscle cells based on multi-mode images combining holograms and calcium. As this technology can be used to thoroughly analyze the responses of each patient to various drugs, it is expected to serve as a core technology for new drug development customized for patients.
□ Calcium imaging technology is a method for visually observing and analyzing the movement and concentration of calcium ions within cells or tissues. Existing technologies show limited performance in accurately analyzing changes in the conditions of cardiac muscle cells, such as three-dimensional structure, motility-related characteristics, and mass. To address this problem, the research team of Prof. Moon previously proposed a cardiac muscle cell analysis technology based on holography. This technology facilitates a more precise analysis of real-time conditions of cardiac muscle cells based on a singular cell unit. However, it is still limited in identifying the correlation between contraction and relaxation in terms of cardiac impulses dynamics.
□ To overcome these challenges, the research team of Prof. Moon developed a multi-mode image sensor technology based on the combination of calcium imaging and holography. The newly developed technology can simultaneously measure calcium dynamics within cells and contraction and relaxation processes. As it can perform a more accurate quantitative analysis of cardiac muscle cells where drugs are inserted regarding various conditions impulse speed, drug duration, drug effects, drug toxicity, etc., it will solve the issues of the previous two technologies.
□ As Prof. Moon stated, “the technology that we developed in this research is a source technology that verifies the processes where cardiac muscle cells containing inserted drugs react to the drugs and change by measuring a correlation between impulse patterns of cardiac muscle cells and calcium dynamics within them.” He also mentioned, “This technology enables users to examine the conditions of cardiac muscle cells of patients more precisely and test the risks of necessary drugs in advance. For this reason, we expect that this technology will significantly contribute to the development of platforms for drug screening customized for patients.”
□ This research outcome was achieved with the support of the Ministry of Science and ICT through the STEAM Research Program and was published in the July issue of ACS Sensors, an international academic journal.
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