Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The Washington University received a $1.244M Project Grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), awarded April 1, 2026, with completion targeted for March 31, 2030. The award supports development of an integrated software-hardware platform that enables real-time, feedback-based control of mechanical forces on cells and engineered tissues—a capability absent from most current high-throughput drug development systems. The research team will integrate four key technologies: rapid algorithms for estimating tissue contractility, graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated computing, magnetically-responsive smart biomaterials, and high-throughput engineered tissue platforms into a user-friendly, graphical-user-interface (GUI)-supported system.

The deliverables include optimization and validation of the Direct Deformation Estimation (DDE) algorithm to enable real-time computation of tissue deformation, integration of this software with hardware components that trigger magnetic responses based on imaging data, and demonstration of the integrated system through mechano-pharmacologic screening studies using skeletal and cardiac muscle tissues. The platform's adaptable software-to-hardware interface design is intended to be readily adoptable by the broader research community without requiring costly, specialized hardware approaches, thereby advancing the field's capacity to incorporate dynamic mechanical loading into drug discovery workflows.