Researchers at Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston have developed a 10-organ chip platform with which they come closer to the goal of simulating the 10 most important human organs on the chip in a miniature format.

 

 

Human tissue from liver, lungs, intestines, endometrium, brain, pancreas, heart, kidney, skin and skeletal muscles can be placed in the cavities provided for this purpose. Alternatively, the platform can also be used with fewer tissue types like - for instance - a 4-organ chips. The body-on-a-chip can be used to test drugs, but also to test drug effects on other organs.

 

Even if the model is not yet perfect, it goes still more in the direction of simulating a functioning human body compare to a single organ chip. The model does not yet contain any functioning blood circulation or fatty tissue.

 

The scientists presented their model in the journal scientific reports.

 

Colin D. Edington, Wen Li Kelly Chen, Emily Geishecker, Timothy Kassis, Luis R. Soenksen, Brij M. Bhushan, Duncan Freake, Jared Kirschner, Christian Maass, Nikolaos Tsamandouras, Jorge Valdez, Christi D. Cook, Tom Parent, Stephen Snyder, Jiajie Yu, Emily Suter, Michael Shockley, Jason Velazquez, Jeremy J. Velazquez, Linda Stockdale, Julia P. Papps, Iris Lee, Nicholas Vann, Mario Gamboa, Matthew E. LaBarge, Zhe Zhong, Xin Wang, Laurie A. Boyer, Douglas A. Lauffenburger, Rebecca L. Carrier, Catherine Communal, Steven R. Tannenbaum, Cynthia L. Stokes, David J. Hughes, Gaurav Rohatgi, David L. Trumper, Murat Cirit, Linda G. Griffith (2018). Interconnected Microphysiological Systems for Quantitative Biology and Pharmacology Studies. Scientific reports, 8 (1) DOI: 10,1038/s41598-018-22749-0

 

Source:
http://news.mit.edu/2018/body-chip-could-improve-drug-evaluation-0314