Publications by Francesca Sorba

Elastomer-based pneumatic device to measure the mechanical properties of cell monolayers

Everyday life physiological functions such as breathing, muscle contraction, and blood circulation rely on the ability of single cells to organize into higher complexity structures and sustain mechanical deformations. Cell monolayers are the simplest tissu ...

EPFL2019

Integrated elastomer-based device for measuring the mechanics of adherent cell monolayers

Herbert Shea, Alexandre Poulin, Cristina Martin Olmos, Francesca Sorba

Cells in the body collectively sustain mechanical deformations in almost all physiological functions. From the morphogenesis stage, cells' ability to sustain stress is essential for the body's well-being. Several pathologies have been associated with abnor ...

2019

An ultra-fast mechanically active cell culture substrate

Herbert Shea, Alexandre Poulin, Cristina Martin Olmos, Matthias Imboden, Samuel Rosset, Francesca Sorba

We present a mechanically active cell culture substrate that produces complex strain patterns and generates extremely high strain rates. The transparent miniaturized cell stretcher is compatible with live cell microscopy and provides a very compact and por ...

Nature Research2018

Stretchable composite monolayer electrodes for low voltage dielectric elastomer actuators

Herbert Shea, Samuel Rosset, Xiaobin Ji, Francesca Sorba

2018

Optimization of thin-film highly-compliant elastomer sensors for contractility measurement of muscle cells

Herbert Shea, Cristina Martin Olmos, Matthias Imboden, Samuel Rosset, Alexandre Poulin, Francesca Sorba, Mélanie Favre, Oluwaseun Adelowo Araromi

Test assays capable of providing quantitative characterization of the contraction of cardiac and smooth muscle cells are of great need for drug development and screening. Several methodologies have been proposed for achieving measurement of cell contractil ...

Elsevier Science Bv2016