Scientists are pushing ahead to build ‘organ-on-chips’, small chunks with human cells, which are useful, for example, for studying cancerous metastases in the bloodstream or developing scarf scarf, or for testing the effects of drugs or outside food. human body. To take the step to business, a collection of dozens of research organizations, companies and knowledge centers, brought together by the organ-on-chip consortium hDMT, is raising universal status, supported by a grant NWO vision of nearly five million euros. The ultimate goal of the future: to combine several organ chips to symbolize a whole body.
Those who think of chips only in terms of computers are deceived today. Organ-on-chip usually consists of a plastic plate with microchannels and integrated chambers. Inside grow the complex cigarettes of human cells, in an environment similar to the human body, but barely visible to the naked eye.
A few minutes of liquid flows throughout the living cells to nourish them, and a pump delivers and removes them. Sensors in the chip measure how the cells respond and actuators change. For example, differential pressure, mechanical force, oxygen level or flow rate.
By adding a drug, food or cosmic product to a test, the researchers can see how the figs react. The chip fits perfectly under a light microscope, so that the process can be easily followed and live.
It was scaled up with a lack of general status
At present, the slits are mainly used by researchers to better understand how cells behave in their microenvironment or how diseases develop and spread. through the body. In Eindhoven, for example, they are working on cancer-on-chip (see video: https: /
However, large-scale use of pharma is not yet on the agenda due to the lack of universal status. There are many types of chips, each with its own design, dimensions and material. In addition, the cracks are difficult to fit into the workflow of the pharmaceutical industry and are difficult to scale up to larger numbers. In short, they are designed for research, not for business.
Here are the 10 research groups of 8 universities, united in the Dutch ‘organ-on-chip’ consortium hDMT, for change, along with 21 companies, 3 knowledge institutes and 2 institutions. Led by researcher Jaap den Toonder from TU Eindhoven, they are now going to develop a custom and modular platform for organ-on-chips, the ‘SMART Organ-on-Chip’. On 10 March, they were awarded an NWO ‘Perspect’ grant of 3.4 million euros. The business partners are investing another 1.4 million euros in the project.
Harmful drugs can be eliminated earlier
Pharmaceutical companies have a lot to offer from the standard platform. New drug development will take at least 10 years and billions of euros. This long and expensive process is due to the various stages that the new drug has to go through. And 80% of promising drugs are still being released in the final phase.
Den Toonder: “If you can test the drugs directly on a reasonable human organ-on-chip model, taking into account the complexity of the body immediately, you can eliminate harmful or non-harmful drugs. efficient much earlier in the process, thus saving a lot of money. “
Connecting chips
To regulate the slits, the researchers are building a standard-sized “docking” plate that will host the moving channels and electronics. The slits can then be clicked on as models.
The researchers develop tight slits in which the cells are in the right microenvironment and technical slits with innovative fluid pumps and physical and chemical sensors. Den Toonder: “That’s what makes the system so flexible; you can click the snippets on it in any combination you want, depending on the type of organ you want to study and the question you want to answer. “
The entire system is aligned with biochemical industrial and R&D workflows, for example, to work with piping robots and complex microscopic techniques. In addition, it will be an open and accessible technology, so that other companies can develop their own applications and add them to the existing platform.
Den Toonder: “By combining the different organ-on-chip models, we can ultimately simulate organ interactions. That’s really important, because organs don’t work in their own body. We hope that with time we will be able to develop, connect and study slits for all the organs in the human body, so our final dream is’ body-on-chip ‘, which allows you to study the effect of a new drug in all organs, for example, so that you can see at the same time that the liver does not break down the drug, at least not the gut is damaged, and heart problems develop. “
Examining scarves
In the Perspective program, the researchers place a particular focus on scar tissue development: fibrosis. In addition to properly healed separations, fibrosis of organs sometimes progresses to progressive ligament tension. The area around the organ plays a large role. It is therefore essential to take that environment into account when studying this process in organ-on-chip models.
It is precisely this complexity that has so far prevented a good model for the study of fibrosis. So the team is now building cloth scraps from the inside, skin and joints to examine the processes at the system level.
Den Toonder: “The NWO Vision grant allows us to bring together the broad group of scientists you need for such development with industry partners, from manufacturing to end – users.” Den Toonder is a mechanical engineer within the TU Eindhoven Institute for Integrated Molecular Systems (ICMS).
The right drug for that one patient
In addition to the pharmaceutical industry, the emerging field of research of personalized medicine can also benefit greatly from conventional organ-on-chip technology. Drugs are now developed for the average person, and will only work for one in four if you are lucky. There are even drugs on the market that only work for one in twenty people. If you can pre-screen a few drugs on cells from the particular patient you are seeking treatment for, you can immediately prescribe the right drug for that particular person.
The new scoops are also finding business applications outside of pharma. For example, skin-on-chip to test for cosmetic or intestine-on-chip side effects to test for allergies to a new food product. An advantage of organ-on-chip technology is that there will be a significant reduction in the number of animal tests.
The Dutch organ-on-chip consortium hDMT brought together the following partners for this NWO Vision program: Amsterdam UMC / VUmc, Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, UMC Utrecht, Leiden University, Maastricht University, University of Twente , Wageningen University & Research, 300MICRONS, Applikon, BioLamina, Conference, Demcon, dsRAT Stichting Proefdiervrij, Galapagos, Genmab, Hy2Care, IBA Lifesciences, ibidi, Life Science Methods, LipoCoat, Micronit Microtechnologies,. , ReumaNederland, RIVM, Spektrax, TissUse, TNO, Unilever Safety & Environmental Assurance Center, Ushio INC.
Source:
Eindhoven University of Technology