Developing a sensor for blood vessel damage

Joint NC3Rs/BHF PhD Studentship: Development of E-Sense: a flexible in vitro platform to determine cardiovascular risk (Dr Stephen White)

Around a third of heart attacks are caused when fatty plaques in the walls of arteries become unstable and rupture. This tends to happen when the cells that line the blood vessels – endothelial cells – detach, causing the formation of blood clots. When blood flow is disturbed (a phenomenon called low wall shear stress) endothelial cells become damaged and the likelihood of plaque formation and rupture is increased. Because endothelial cells are so important in this disease process, scientists have been studying them in animals. But a student working with Dr Stephen White is creating a novel test-tube based system that could be used in their place. The system is called E-sense and it uses human coronary artery endothelial cells grown in the lab under different blood flow conditions. The cells have been modified to contain ‘reporter’ genes, which will send biological signals if certain molecules have been switched on under the different conditions being tested. In addition to blood flow, it will be possible to look at the effect of other risk factors on blood vessels, such as cholesterol, inflammatory molecules and cigarette smoke. This might provide an effective and efficient replacement for the use of animals both for screening of substances that contribute to atherosclerosis, and to identify new treatments that could prevent it from developing.