Cuore is an all-in-one platform for measuring muscle force of engineered muscle with customizable electrical stimulation, providing valuable biological insights based on contraction dynamics.
Designed to comply with a 24-well plate format, it integrates fiber optical sensing and Electrical Pulse Stimulation (EPS). Cuore is a modular platform in which you can culture, monitor, stimulate and analyze engineered muscle bundles.
Drug development
Assess effects on muscle function for drug efficacy and safety in physiologically relevant muscle models.
Disease modelling
Reproduce (patho)physiology using genetically modified cell lines and isogenic controls to assess mutation-specific changes in muscle contractility.
Linking drug efficacy to muscle function
Gain insights into the functional impact of next-generation therapies, including gene and RNA-based treatments, by assessing how they influence muscle performance
Manual analysis is the past with Cuore. We made the quantification for all contraction dynamics automatic.
Here is a selection of key parameters, more metrics can be extracted.
i. Maxiumu force; ii. Contraction time; iii. Relaxation time;
iv. Frequency / Period; v. Tension build up; vi. Peak widths
In the Cuore you can create 3D engineered muscle bundles for Skeletal and Cardiac applications. It is suited for iPSC, immortalized and primary cells.
At the heart of Cuore is our unique optical fiber sensing technology, capturing even the smallest changes in contractility with high precision. Integrated electrical stimulation lets you automate innervation, apply custom protocols, and run up to 96 (4×24) parallel conditions.
Watch this short video to learn more about Cuore.
Increase the relevance of your functional assay by generating and closely monitoring (human) 3D muscle bundles in near-physiological conditions. Experience the benefits of 3D in vitro modelling in your research. This approach unlocks access to structural complexity, improved cell behavior, and enhanced mechanical properties and tissue maturation. Additionally, it offers more accurate cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions, allowing you to prolong your experiments. This extended duration closely mimics the pathological in vivo conditions.
Cuore is a scalable and efficient platform for growing (human) muscle bundles between two pillars over extended periods of time. The unique design and functionalities allow you not only to save time throughout your experiment but also to culture high quality tissues with yields up to 95%* after first transfer, resulting in reproducibility across multiple cell-lines.
*Yields from validated cardiac and skeletal protocols.
Perform functional studies that would have otherwise been impossible in 2D. This specifically relates to measurement of contractility, either spontaneously occurring or induced by Electrical Pulse Stimulation (EPS), which is a key feature in studying cardiac and skeletal muscle biology and disease. Cuore can be used as a potency assay for drugs in cardiac or muscle-related therapies. It also provides an excellent platform to identify negative side-effects on cell lines, such as cardiotoxicity in preclinical drug development stage.
Distinguish even the smallest contraction patterns by measuring unfiltered muscle contractility with high force resolution. Cuore is the only platform on the market that utilizes direct force sensing through optical fiber technology, allowing to measure contractility directly and quantifiably with unparalleled precision.
The 24-well plate design, with automated, simultaneous, multichannel recording, allows for the automated execution of pre-designed and customizable protocols that run independently without the need for manual intervention.
Automated large data analysis with instantaneous results and easy extraction of key parameters, such as peak force and relaxation times, through the accompanying, intuitive Cuore viewer analysis software.
600 000 cells per engineered muscle bundle
0 – 100 Hz per well
capacity 24 × 4 wells = 96 tissues
Ready for use with incubator
Brightfield + fluorescence (inverted)
1 – 5 400 µN
1 – 15 kHz (4 samples in parallel)
0 – 50 mA per sample (± 12 V)
17.5 × 15.3 × 5.2 cm
(L x W x H)
Reusable & autoclavable
Developing effective therapies for cardiac and skeletal muscle diseases requires models that truly reflect human physiology. Cuore’s 3D muscle tissue models do just that.
Unlike traditional 2D cultures or animal models, our pillar-based system mimics the structure and function of real human muscle tissue, combining biological complexity with experimental simplicity. [Iuliano et al., 2023, DOI: 10.1002/admt.202300845]
The integration of this biological model makes Cuore a powerful tool across drug development, disease modelling, and next-gen therapy development.
Cuore is a pillar-based system for standard 24-well plates that uses integrated fiber optical sensing and EPS for continuous stimulation and real-time recording of contractile activity of engineered muscle tissues. The technology uses light interferometry and optical fibers for unprecedented sensitivity, being capable of measuring contractions with a micronewton (µN) resolution. The multiplexing nature of optical fibers allows for simultaneous multichannel recording.
A fully integrated culture device that includes, in addition to force-sensing, an electrode board for stimulation of 3d muscle bundles and a closing see-through lid to provide an enclosed and sterile environment that can be fully operated both inside and outside the incubator.
Innovative design allows compatibility with:
“One of the advantages of optical fiber technology is multi-channeling: a light source can split and propagate its signal through multiple reflective paths, represented by the fiber optics in the Cuore sensing component.”
Our platform’s utilization of optical interference for muscle bundle contraction measurement sets it apart. This innovative approach provides exceptional acquisition speed and sensitivity, surpassing conventional methods such as video-based or magnetic impedance technologies. This unique feature grants users’ access to unique insights into contraction characteristics. Additionally, the platform’s high sensitivity reduces the required number of cells and expands the range of pillar stiffness, enabling emulation of a broader spectrum of in vivo conditions. Unlike conventional methods that demand significant motion to detect contraction changes. The nature of Cuore-technology forms the foundation to scale up higher formats soon.
The technology employed in Cuore allows for reproducible and multichannel force measurements down to a micronewton (µN) resolution while maintaining sterility and permitting continuous non-invasive recording within and outside standard tissue culture incubators.
Our system seamlessly integrates electrical stimulation and optical force read-out into a singular functional unit, the Smart Lid. Its cohesive modular design uniquely employs reusable components, yielding substantial cost savings. Aside from financial benefits, the plug-and-play nature of the system promotes scalability through functional unit additions – it allows you to scale up throughput by stimulating up to 4 Smart Lids or 96 tissues at the same time. Transitioning between the units is effortlessly achieved due to factory calibration and saved configured settings of each Smart Lid.
Whether your focus lies on mechanical measurements and characterization at the cell scale, or you work with muscle tissues, our platforms offer you precise, fast, and accurate outcomes. Discover more about how our products can help you accelerate and achieve your research goals.
With a wide range of application areas, across an array of samples, for various disease areas and testing needs, we can provide you with precise insights into mechanical cues to advance your translational research. Learn more about our applications here.
We are a growing team of 60+ passionate people, headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Learn more about our journey so far, meet our team of professionals, and our career opportunities.
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