Overcoming hurdles to organ-on-a-chip technology
DOI: 10.1063/10.0001619
Overcoming hurdles to organ-on-a-chip technology lead image
Organ-on-a-chip (OOC) units are typically microfluidic-based devices that host a culture of one or more cell types with the aim to capture key organ structures and biological functions. They could be used for preclinical drug screening to eventually reduce testing with animal models.
A review by Qasem Ramadan and Mohammad Zourob looks at the substantial advances that have already been made in OOC technology and identifies the gaps that remain between this largely academic laboratory work and its successful translation to industry and clinical settings.
Despite the many start-up efforts around the world, some done in collaboration with large pharmaceutical companies, major technological hurdles still remain. This review systematically considers the range of issues that must be overcome before OOC can be applied to the real world, much less the more ambitious goal of human-body-on-a-chip, in which multiple organs are integrated.
The authors estimate that OOC is at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4, whereas TRL 9 is required for a fully tested method ready for real-world application.
“Despite the tremendous progress made in cell biology, stem cell engineering and tissue engineering, device engineering and manufacturing remain as major hurdles hampering the launch of this technology to industry,” Ramadan said.
A possible approach to overcome some of the engineering difficulties is to develop a modular platform that could host a variety of organs. The authors also suggest that engineering of OOC devices could take advantage of approaches used in the semiconductor industry. They note that one way to minimize complexity of the actual chip while maximizing functionality is to use an integrated OOC system with disposable organ chips and a multi-function operating system.
Source: “Organs-on-a-chip engineering: Towards bridging the gap between lab and industry,” by Qasem Ramadan and Mohammad Zourob, Biomicrofluidics (2020) The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0011583 .
