We develop enabling technologies for microphysiological systems (MPS) and organ-on-chip (OoC) applications. Developed in close collaboration with experts in biology, medicine, and materials science, these technologies support studies of human physiology, disease mechanisms, drug responses, and cell-cell interactions, and have been applied to cardiovascular, neurological, ocular, and musculoskeletal research.
Selected Videos
Oxygen Control Technologies
- Compartmentalized oxygen control chip for spatiotemporal oxygen regulation (Tornberg et al., 2022)
- Perfusion devices for temporal control of oxygen microenvironments (Mahdavi et al., 2025; Ameziane 2024)
- Portable hypoxia incubator for microphysiological systems (Aalto et al., 2022), (Häkli et al., 2021; Metsälä et al., 2018; Kreutzer et al., 2017; Kreutzer et al., 2012), commercialized by BioGenium Microsystems
- Oxygen gradient chip for ischemia and stroke modelling (Santiago et al., 2023)
- Gas transport modelling tools for PDMS-based microfluidic devices (Mäki et al., 2015)
Oxygen Measurement Technologies
- Luminescence lifetime imaging integrated with selective-plane illumination microscopy for oxygen imaging in 3D (Välimäki et al., 2026)
- Oxygen imaging system for perfused 3D bone scaffolds (Välimäki et al., 2025)
- Biocompatible immobilized luminescent oxygen sensor technology for long-term cell studies (Välimäki et al., 2020)
- Luminescent oxygen sensor technology for in vitro cell models (Välimäki et al., 2017)
Organ-on-Chip Platforms for Selected Applications
- Human cardiac ischemia platform (Gaballah et al., 2022; Häkli et al., 2022; Häkli et al., 2021)
- Cardiomyopathy platform (Shah et al., 2019)
- Human cardiac innervation-on-a-chip platform (Pesu et al., 2026; Häkli et al., 2022)
- Brain-on-a-chip for epilepsy modelling (Pelkonen et al., 2020)
- Neuroinflammation-on-chip coculture platform (Tujula et al., 2025; Hyvärinen et al., 2019)
- Parkinson’s disease model (Kapucu et al., 2024)
- Liver zonation-on-chip platform (Mahdavi et al., 2025)
- Open-top chip for connecting microvascular networks (Yrjänäinen et al., 2024)
- Neuron-oligodendrocyte coculture platform for myelin research (Ristola et al., 2019)
- Platform for drug permeability studies in cells and tissues (Ramsay et al., 2026; Hemmilä et al., 2020)
Mechanical Cell Stimulation Technologies (flow-based, topography-based, stretching-based)
- OoC platform for compartment-specific perfusion (Tornberg et al., 2025)
- Equiaxial pneumatically actuated cell stretching platform (Zhao at al., 2014) for cardiac (Kreutzer et al., 2014) and osteogenic differentiation (Virjula et al., 2017)
- Unidirectional pneumatically actuated cell stretching platform for cardiac mechanobiology studies (Kreutzer et al., 2020)
- Equiaxial pneumatically actuated compression device for epithelial tissues (Peussa et al., 2022)
- Durable covalent coating for PDMS-based cell stretching platforms (Leivo et al., 2017)
- Light-controllable nanotopography platform for directional axon growth (Ristola et al., 2021)
- Nanocellulose-based platforms for cell and tissue engineering, including (Pajorova et al. 2020) for skin applications and (Skogberg et al. 2017) for cell alignment
- Biomimetic hydrogel platforms for studying force transmission in the retina (Korpela et al., 2025), mechanobiology in the cornea (Kauppila et al., 2023; Koivusalo et al., 2018) and RPE-endothelial cell interaction (Calejo et al., 2020)
- Long-term hydrophilic PDMS surface treatment technology (Hemmilä et al., 2012)
Microelectrode Arrays (MEA), Electrophysiology and Bioelectronic Technologies
- Single-cell-level cardiac MEAs (Ryynänen et al., 2018)
- Transparent MEAs for neuronal recordings (Ryynänen et al., 2020)
- MEAs for flexible substrates (Bakhchova et al., µTAS 2025)
- MEAs integrated with light-controllable nanotopography platform (Ryynänen et al., Hilton Head Workshop 2024)
- Corrosion-resistant insulation technology for long-term MEA applications (Karttu et al., 2022)
- Graphene field-effect transistor array characterization platform (Salpavaara et al., 2026)
- Gas-supplied chamber for long-term neuronal MEA recordings (Kreutzer et al., 2017) and structured microenvironments for enhanced neuronal activity on MEAs (Kreutzer et al., 2012)
- PDMS tunnel structures for directed neuronal connectivity (Toivanen et al., 2017)
- Porous SU-8 membrane interfaces for neuronal innervation studies (Salpavaara et al., 2021)
Automated and Controlled Cell Culture Technologies
- Simulation-based control strategies for cardiomyocyte cultures (Mäki et al., 2024)
- Feedback control of cell culture temperature using indirect measurements (Mäki et al., 2016; Mäki et al., 2018)
- Portable multimodal live-cell imaging and sensing platform (Kattipparambil Rajan et al., 2018) and automated video-based analysis of cardiomyocyte function (Kattipparambil Rajan et al., 2020)
- Tool for Spectral Analysis of Oriented Structures on Cellular and Subcellular Levels (Kartasalo et al., 2015)
- Lab Automation in Cultivation of Adherent Cells (Kuncová-Kallio et al., 2006)