Heart Cells Beating Without a Body

November 7, 2017
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Heart Cells Beating Without a Body


“Organ on a chip” is a cutting-edge technique for testing new drugs when they are still in their most experimental phase, before animal tests and before clinical tests with humans. Professor Megan McCain regularly explains her research at Orthopaedic Medical Magnet School. On this day, she spoke with the 10th grade class, all studying personalized medicine. McCain and her crew of graduate students in biomedical engineering create “Heart on a Chip" platforms, meaning they turn stem cells into heart cells, layer them in ways that mimic heart muscle, then measure how strongly they beat. Consequently, the engineers can measure the effect of different drugs under development to treat various heart diseases. This process speeds pharmaceutical innovation and offers many additional social benefits, from safety to cost savings.


All that is a lot to absorb for 10th grade students, even those in the biomed pathway at Orthopaedic Medical Magnet High School, where Dr. McCain, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Chonette Early Career Chair, has been sharing her research for the past three years. In 10th grade, the students are beginning to study diseases; their project this semester is on personalized medicine. In this Linked Learning pathway, they will go on to study biology, physics, anatomy, engineering, as well as the whole range of general education courses. Professor McCain introduced them to the whole process of testing new pharmaceuticals, then explained how her research is leading to discoveries about how – one day – drugs will be developed based on each person’s DNA.

As part of her commitment to sharing the impacts of her research with the public, Professor McCain joined the Advisory Board of Ortho in 2014. Each year, 11th grade Ortho students visit her lab, the Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, to understand how centrifuges are used in her biomedical engineering research while they observe the full cycle of how the lab turns stem cells into beating heart muscle and then uses them to study human diseases and test drugs.

"By visiting the students as 10th graders," McCain said, "I can plant the seeds of our research earlier on. Hopefully it will come full-circle to the students when they visit our lab during their 11th grade field trip. It's been exciting and rewarding to have the opportunity to work closely with the faculty and staff at Ortho and gradually integrate my research program with their new Linked Learning pathway."
This is just another example of how the professors at USC Viterbi School of Engineering make a difference in their community.

Heart Cells Beating Without a Body


“Organ on a chip” is a cutting-edge technique for testing new drugs when they are still in their most experimental phase, before animal tests and before clinical tests with humans. Professor Megan McCain regularly explains her research at Orthopaedic Medical Magnet School. On this day, she spoke with the 10th grade class, all studying personalized medicine. McCain and her crew of graduate students in biomedical engineering create “Heart on a Chip” platforms, meaning they turn stem cells into heart cells, layer them in ways that mimic heart muscle, then measure how strongly they beat. Consequently, the engineers can measure the effect of different drugs under development to treat various heart diseases. This process speeds pharmaceutical innovation and offers many additional social benefits, from safety to cost savings.


All that is a lot to absorb for 10th grade students, even those in the biomed pathway at Orthopaedic Medical Magnet High School, where Dr. McCain, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Chonette Early Career Chair, has been sharing her research for the past three years. In 10th grade, the students are beginning to study diseases; their project this semester is on personalized medicine. In this Linked Learning pathway, they will go on to study biology, physics, anatomy, engineering, as well as the whole range of general education courses. Professor McCain introduced them to the whole process of testing new pharmaceuticals, then explained how her research is leading to discoveries about how – one day – drugs will be developed based on each person’s DNA.

As part of her commitment to sharing the impacts of her research with the public, Professor McCain joined the Advisory Board of Ortho in 2014. Each year, 11th grade Ortho students visit her lab, the Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, to understand how centrifuges are used in her biomedical engineering research while they observe the full cycle of how the lab turns stem cells into beating heart muscle and then uses them to study human diseases and test drugs.

“By visiting the students as 10th graders,” McCain said, “I can plant the seeds of our research earlier on. Hopefully it will come full-circle to the students when they visit our lab during their 11th grade field trip. It’s been exciting and rewarding to have the opportunity to work closely with the faculty and staff at Ortho and gradually integrate my research program with their new Linked Learning pathway.”
This is just another example of how the professors at USC Viterbi School of Engineering make a difference in their community.

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Published on November 7th, 2017

Last updated on November 12th, 2022


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