Rice, ETH build hydroMEA nerve chip

Rice University and ETH Zurich researchers have built a lab-grown nerve platform that combines soft hydrogel tissue, microfluidic patterning and high-density electrodes in one device. The system, called hydroMEA, was described by Rice on August 31 and published August 26 in *Advanced Healthcare Materials*. (news.rice.edu) It uses human-derived sensory neurons grown with Schwann cells, the cells that wrap axons in myelin in the peripheral nervous system. The researchers said the setup let them measure faster electrical signaling as myelin formed, giving them a way to test not just whether coating appeared, but whether it changed nerve function. ### What did Rice and ETH Zurich actually build? The device is a 3D hydrogel-based microfluidic platform placed on a high-density multielectrode array, according to the paper abstract and Rice’s description. (news.rice.edu) Earlier nerve-on-chip systems often used polydimethylsiloxane microfluidics on planar electrode arrays, while hydroMEA adds a three-dimensional extracellular matrix-like environment around the cells. Rice said the team grew human-derived sensory neurons inside soft hydrogels whose stiffness could be tuned to better match nerve tissue. The researchers then added Schwann cells, which support peripheral nerves and form myelin by wrapping axons. The chip also includes small channels that guide cell growth and preserve spatial control over the network. (news.rice.edu) ### Why was the hydrogel such a big part of the design? Christina Tringides, the corresponding author and an assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice, said standard tissue-culture plastic is much stiffer than brain or nerve tissue. “The environment matters to a cell,” Tringides said, adding that hydrogels let the team recreate conditions that support native cell behavior. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The paper describes the matrix as a 3D hydrogel system designed to mimic extracellular environments while still working with electrode-based recording. The context matters because the challenge in these systems is usually a tradeoff: precise chip architecture on one side, and a biologically realistic growth environment on the other. (news.rice.edu) HydroMEA is meant to combine both. ### How did the team show the nerves were working, not just growing? Rice said the researchers confirmed function by measuring an increase in the speed of electrical signals traveling across connected nerve-cell networks. That is the key claim in the study: not only that myelin formed, but that the coating changed conduction in a measurable way. (news.rice.edu) The multielectrode array came from Maxwell Biosystems, according to Rice, and allowed real-time recording of neuronal activity. Tringides said, “While the formation of myelin is exciting to see, we are even more excited that it is functional and changes how the nerve communicates.” (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) ### Who worked on the study? The author list includes Blandine F. Clément, Cédric Pfister, Timothy Kurer, Céline Labouesse, Dhanajay V. Deshmukh, Julian Hengsteler, Julia Lehmann, Lorenza G. Paganella, Tobias Ruff, Vilius Dranseika, Sean Weaver, Lukas Sommer, Mark W. Tibbitt, János Vörös and Christina M. Tringides. ETH Zurich’s Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics lists the paper among its 2026 publications, and the bioRxiv version links the work to ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and Rice University. (news.rice.edu) Rice said the platform was developed at Rice and ETH Zurich. The journal record indexed by PubMed identifies the article as “HydroMEA: A 3D Hydrogel-Based Microfluidic Device to Study Electrophysiology for Myelinated Nerve-on-Chip.” (news.rice.edu) ### What can researchers use it for next? Rice said the platform can be used to study how myelin develops, how injury or toxins affect it, and whether drugs or electrical stimulation can prevent myelin loss or support repair. The university also said the system could be adapted to model the brain and examine more complex cellular processes. The next concrete step is already in the literature trail: the paper was published August 26 in *Advanced Healthcare Materials*, and Rice highlighted the work publicly on August 31. (lbb.ethz.ch) ETH Zurich’s publication page and Rice’s lab post both point readers to the same study as the reference for follow-on work and replication. (news.rice.edu)