In vitro cell models have experienced a tremendeous progress over the last decade, as materials, devices and cell culture protocols became the centre of intense research for tissue engineering, drug screening and toxicology assays. While the majority of recently developed microphysiological systems yield sufficient complexity, methods for in situ evaluation of 3D cell cultures in a label-free manner and high-throughput configuration are still limited. We herein demonstrate a novel well plate bioelectronic platform, namely e-transmembrane, capable to support and monitor complex 3D cell architectures. In particular, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) based scaffolds have been engineered to function both as separator membranes for compartmentalized cell cultures, as well as electronic elements for real time and in situ recording of tissue growth and function. Intrinsic limitations arising from the 3D dimensionality of the porous structures are addressed by tailoring the morphological characteristics of the scaffold transmembranes. Impedance spectroscopy measurements carried out throughout the cell culture period, allowed us to identify signatures from different cell types, assessing cell growth and extracting barrier function parameters. Being compatible with current biological standards, we believe that this platform has the potential to become a universal tool for biologists, laying foundation for the next generation of high-throughput drug screening assays.
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