VU Medical Center 3 articles published in JoVE Immunology and Infection In Vitro Microfluidic Disease Model to Study Whole Blood-Endothelial Interactions and Blood Clot Dynamics in Real-Time Xue D. Manz1, Hugo J. Albers2,3, Petr Symersky4, Jurjan Aman1, Andries D. van der Meer3, Harm Jan Bogaard1, Robert Szulcek1,5,6 1Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Amsterdam UMC, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences (ACS), 2BIOS Lab-on-a-Chip group, University of Twente, 3Applied Stem Cell Technologies Group, University of Twente, 4Department of Cardio-thoracic Surgery, Amsterdam UMC, VU University Medical Center, 5Institute of Physiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, 6German Heart Center We present an in vitro vascular disease model to investigate whole blood interactions with patient-derived endothelium. This system allows the study of thrombogenic properties of primary endothelial cells under various circumstances. The method is especially suited to evaluate in situ thrombogenicity and anticoagulation therapy during different phases of coagulation. Cancer Research A Preclinical Mouse Model of Osteosarcoma to Define the Extracellular Vesicle-mediated Communication Between Tumor and Mesenchymal Stem Cells Tonny Lagerweij*1, Maria Pérez-Lanzón*2, S. Rubina Baglio2 1Neuro-oncology Research Group, VU Medical Center, 2Exosomes Research Group, Department of Pathology, VU Medical Center Direct injection of cancer-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) leads to reprogramming of bone marrow supporting tumor progression; however, which cells mediate this effect is unclear. Herein, we describe a step-by-step protocol to investigate EV-mediated tumor-mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) interactions in vivo, revealing a crucial role for EV-educated MSCs in metastasis. Medicine Combined Intravital Microscopy and Contrast-enhanced Ultrasonography of the Mouse Hindlimb to Study Insulin-induced Vasodilation and Muscle Perfusion Alexander H. Turaihi1, Erik M. van Poelgeest1, Victor W. M. van Hinsbergh1, Erik H. Serné2, Yvo M. Smulders2, Etto C. Eringa1 1Laboratory for Physiology, Institute for Cardiovascular Research (ICaR-VU), VU University Medical Center, 2Department of Internal Medicine, Institute for Cardiovascular Research (ICaR-VU), VU University Medical Center Insulin-induced vasodilation regulates muscle perfusion and increases the microvascular surface area (microvascular recruitment) available for solute exchange between blood and tissue interstitium. Combined intravital microscopy and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is presented to simultaneously assess insulin's action at the larger vessels and the microcirculation in vivo.
