Multiscale Engineered Tissue Systems (METS) Lab

Currently hosted in the Regenerative and Muscle Biology Lab at ETHZ

Research

Research Themes

Biofabrication and automated functional characterization of miniaturized cardiac and skeletal muscle models

Cardiac and skeletal muscle pathologies remain a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. In addition, cytotoxicity in these tissues is a major driver of post-marketing safety actions for therapies. Quantitative functional assays in human engineered cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues are therefore emerging as an important component of preclinical pharmacology, even for therapeutics without a primary cardiac or neuromuscular mechanism.

The METS Lab is interested in developing new biomaterials and biofabrication approaches for the rapid and scalable production of engineered cardiac and muscle tissues. We have recently developed photo-crosslinkable collagen bioresins and light projection approaches for rapid fabrication of contractile tissues. As a follow-up, we developed the open-source platform Stimulatrix for automated electrical stimulation and high-throughput deep learning-driven tracking of compaction and contraction dynamics in cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues. Using this platform, we demonstrated drug-induced functional liabilities with representative small-molecule therapeutics, highlighting direct relevance for pharmacological screening (manuscript coming soon).

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Selected Publications

  1. Winkelbauer M., Hasenauer A., Liu H., Rütsche D., Janiak J., Nguyen M., Christman K., Zenobi-Wong M, Chansoria P*. (2025) Rapid deep vat printing using photoclickable collagen-based bioresins. Advanced Healthcare Materials. DOI
  2. Winkelbauer M., Generali M., Cheng K., Emmert M., Chansoria P*. (2026) Epicardial patches for myocardial repair: Circumventing barrier to healing ischemic heart tissue. Trends in Biotechnology. DOI

Acknowledgements

This research theme is supported by close interdisciplinary collaboration across engineering, biological and clinical sciences. We gratefully acknowledge collaborators, students, and partner laboratories contributing to model development, fabrication strategies, and functional analysis workflows. For the published work, we acknowledge Spark grant (CRSK-2_220980) and Ambizione grant (PZ00P2_216356) from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Rapid in situ biofabrication using light and sound

Advanced biofabrication approaches have transformed tissue engineering and regenerative medicine by enabling the creation of biomimetic tissue grafts for disease modeling and tissue repair. Over the last decade, new in situ strategies have emerged that fabricate grafts directly at the defect site, enabling anatomical conformity and reducing the need for invasive implantation.

In this research area, we are interested in the minimally invasive delivery of light and sound to direct the crosslinking of photo- or sono-sensitive biomaterials. Our goal is to create biomimetic grafts that can rapidly form in vivo. We hypothesize that controlling the microarchitecture of the crosslinked material will support rapid cellular infiltration and improved tissue healing.

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See the full list of publications, sorted by publication date, on Google Scholar .

Selected Publications

  1. Chansoria P., Winkelbauer M., Zhang S., Janiak J., Boev D., Morandi A., Grange R., Zenobi-Wong M. (2025) Structured light projection using image guide fibers for in situ photo-biofabrication. Advanced Materials. DOI

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge collaborators and trainees contributing to biomaterials development, light engine development, and translational biofabrication concepts. We also acknowledge Spark grant (CRSK-2_220980) and Ambizione grant (PZ00P2_216356) from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Engineering of muscle and cardiac tissues in microgravity and space

Microgravity disrupts force balance and mechanotransduction, leading to rapid changes in cytoskeletal organization, metabolism, and tissue remodeling. Phenotypes such as muscle atrophy, cardiac deconditioning, fibrosis, and immune dysregulation emerge on dramatically accelerated timescales in orbit. This makes space an attractive platform for disease modeling and drug toxicology using engineered human tissues.

The METS Lab has successfully led collaborative work on printing muscle tissues in microgravity conditions, and we are now partnering with ETH Space to deploy prefabricated muscle and cardiac tissues in custom perfusable bioreactors in space.

Google Scholar

See the full list of publications, sorted by publication date, on Google Scholar .

Selected Publications

  1. Winkelbauer M., Janiak J., Windisch J, Liu H., Bulatova M., Witzleben M.V., Oliveira H., Dani S., Richter R.F., L’Heureux N., Bar-Nur O., Gelinsky M., Zenobi-Wong M., Chansoria P*. (2025) Long-term cell encapsulation and gravity-independent filamented light biofabrication of muscle constructs. Advanced Science. DOI

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge acknowledge support by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Ambizione grant PZ00P2_216356), and support from The German Space Agency at DLR (grant number: 50WB2332) for funding the 43rd parabolic flight campaign (PFC 43) in Bordeaux (France) organized and executed by NoveSpace. We also acknowledge ongoing collaboration with ETH Space for the development of deployable tissue platforms for microgravity research.