Stimulatrix: An open-source automated platform for high-throughput functional characterization of engineered contractile tissues

However, existing procedures for tissue stimulation, image acquisition, and analytical processing remain largely manual, tedious, and low-throughput. Here, we demonstrate that integrating mechanized gantry-based video acquisition, synchronized electrical stimulation, and deep learning into an open-source platform that enables facile, autonomous tracking of tissue compaction and contractile kinetics within multi-well plates.

When required, the software-platform can offloads computational workloads to the cloud, obviating local GPU hardware barriers. We evaluated maturation and force generation in engineered tissues based on human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts, or primary human skeletal muscle myoblasts. Furthermore, longitudinal automated tracking facilitated robust evaluation of electrical pacing regimens and safety pharmacology screening for off-the-shelf small-molecule therapeutics.