De Chemische Binding

Lecture by dr. Anika Nagelkerke 

Organ-on-a-chip systems as advanced in vitro models for human disease and treatment
exploration.
Development of safe and effective drugs or drug delivery systems that specifically target human disease through the underlying biology are highly desirable. However, it remains challenging to predict therapy efficacy with the in vitro models that we currently have at our disposal. Similarly, animal models are poor predictors for effects in humans and their use meets with increasing ethical issues. As such, advanced in vitro models that are representative for human physiology are highly desired. The advance of microfluidic technology has seen the advent of so-called organ-on-a-chip systems. These tools contribute to unravel the biological mechanisms associated with various disease processes. Microfluidics technology lends itself ideally to the culture and analysis of very small numbers of cells or small quantities of tissue, which allows the efficient use of often-scarce patient specimens and opens a route to personalized medicine. In addition, the use of microfluidics inherently means perfusion culture of cells or tissue, which facilitates the transport of media directly to analysis instrumentation located on- or just off-chip for real-time monitoring. Micro-engineering approaches also allow incorporation of sensing and other analytical function into organ-on-a-chip systems. Overall, organ-on-a-chip models have the potential to reduce costs associated with drug development, as well as drug attrition rates. Furthermore, the need for animal testing could be significantly reduced with these systems. In addition to the potential in pharmaceutical sciences, these systems can pave the way for the safe development of cosmetics or food additives, but also for toxicological analysis of environmental contaminants. This talk will provide an introduction to microfluidics technology and an overview of its use in organ-on-a-chip systems. Advantages of these systems for drug exploration will be discussed, as well as future perspective for their use.

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