Rianú: Multi-tissue tracking software for increased throughput of engineered cardiac tissue screening.

Area of Science:

• Tissue Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Software Development

Background:

• Human Engineered Cardiac Tissues (hECTs) provide valuable 3D models of human myocardium.
• Current hECT systems lack open-source software for simultaneous multi-tissue data collection, limiting screening applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an open-source web application, Rianú, for simultaneous tracking and analysis of multiple hECTs.
• To overcome the throughput limitations in phenotypic and therapeutic screening of hECTs.

Main Methods:

• Developed Rianú, an OS-agnostic web application deployable on a remote server.
• Incorporated simultaneous multi-object tracking, twitch tracing analysis, contractile force calculation, and comparative data compilation.
• Validated Rianú using in-silico and in-vitro experiments against established methods.

Main Results:

• Rianú achieved sub-pixel sensitivity for displacement detection (0.555 px/post increment, 1.665 px/post minimum).
• Demonstrated high correlation ($$ to $$) with established contractility assessment methods, confirming accuracy and reliability.

Conclusions:

• Rianú expedites recording and analysis for multiple hECTs, simplifying intervention studies.
• The software enhances throughput for hECT assays in disease modeling and drug screening.
• Rianú offers scale-up capabilities and supports data collection from diverse formats.