Automating Vascular Biology: An End-to-End Automated Workflow for High-Throughput Blood Vessel-on-a-Chip Production and Multi-Site Validation

There is a growing demand for automated organ-on-a-chip platforms that are compatible with off-the-shelf robotic liquid-handling systems and plate readers to improve reproducibility and scalable analysis. In this work, we present an end-to-end automated method for fabricating tubular blood vessel models at scale using a custom 384-well open-top platform (AngioPlate384), designed to support integration with liquid-handling systems and large-scale analysis. Our approach enables the generation of over 100 perfusable blood vessels fully embedded in hydrogel and supported by stromal cells (fibroblasts and pericytes), allowing both luminal and interstitial flow. Using this platform, we demonstrated that stromal co-culture significantly enhances vascular barrier function, and results in an altered response to chemotherapeutics and to inflammatory stressors. This platform offers a robust and scalable approach to generating customizable blood vessel-on-a-chip models for vascular biology studies, disease modeling, and preclinical testing. Its compatibility with automation and standardized workflows positions it as a powerful tool to accelerate the adoption of microphysiological systems in pharmaceutical research.