Home Department: undeclared
Mentors: Kristy Red-Horse (Biology) and Mark Skylar-Scott (Bioengineering)

“Enhancing Cardiac Organoid Growth and Complexity through Targeted Nutrient Injection"

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect, affecting 1% of newborns, yet only 15% of cases have a known cause. Cardiac organoids (cardioids) are 3D cellular models that mimic early heart development and hold promise for studying CHD origins. However, their size is limited by restricted media diffusion to their core, reducing their ability to replicate complex heart structures. Marta’s project will investigate whether we can overcome this limitation by injecting nutrient-rich media into the cardioid’s center. She will grow, inject, image, and analyze cardioids to improve their structural and functional accuracy for CHD research.