Organs on a chip

    Hurel has been focusing on using 3D culture technology to create "organs on a chip" in vitro to simulate and predict the function of the liver and other organs in vitro. Last month, CSO Reinnervate announced that it was receiving funding from the American Humanities Association (charitable association) to support new applications of Hurel's cell culture technology.

    Hurel's microfluidic "biochip" includes separate but fluidically connected "organ" or "tissue" compartments, each of which supports the culture of living cells, while microfluidic channels allow the circulation of culture fluids under the action of micropumps to simulate living systems. The company claims that the device's geometry and flow characteristics simulate relevant physiological parameters in the body, and test compounds can be added and circulated in the device.

    A HUREL official said the technology is adaptable to a wide range of experimental applications and is compatible with any type of in vitro assay format, such as mass spectrometry, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and gene expression detection.

Organs on a chip have great potential in medical research

    Organs on a chip can simulate real human trials, and the transparent chip makes drug testing easy for researchers to observe. When a new drug needs to be tested, just add the compound contained in the drug to the chip to observe the reaction of the cells in the chip (heart cells, liver cells, etc.).

    Drug development is a long and costly process. Animal testing is an essential part of drug development. However, due to the complexity of the human body, animal testing cannot fully reflect the response of human diseases to drugs. The difference between animal testing and the real human body may lead to a situation where a drug passes animal testing but fails human testing, and therefore cannot be put into production and market, resulting in serious cost waste. Using organs on a chip for drug testing can simulate the real human body as much as possible, thereby reducing the cost and risk of drug development.

    There are no animal models available for testing many human diseases. For example, Crohn's disease, also known as Crohn's disease, is more common in young women. However, the cause of the disease is still unknown and there is a lack of effective treatment. The biggest reason is that it is impossible to find animals with the same disease to conduct drug testing. However, using the "intestine on a chip" can solve this problem.

    In disease research and drug testing, traditional methods inevitably use animals, which has attracted criticism from animal protection organizations. Using organ-on-a-chip technology can avoid many ethical issues in animal protection.