Man-on-a-chip

Jessica Hamzelou, New Scientist:
Building a human on a chip, organ by organ
Translation (heavily abbreviated): Inopressa
Human editing: "organs on chips" will ever be able to be combined into a whole organismA step has been taken towards radically new methods in drug testing and cancer treatment.

"Justin Williams stabs the brain with a pointed object and observes the subsequent events through a microscope. He studies how the brain reacts to physical damage," says journalist Jessica Hamzelu. Of course, this is not Williams' brain itself, but a piece of the mouse brain, she immediately explains.

The brain tissue sample that Williams, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, is working with is a so-called "organ on a chip." The fabric is suspended between two layers of plastic and immersed in a nutrient solution. Among the "organs on chips" there are hearts that beat, and lungs that breathe, as well as the liver, fallopian tubes, etc. Now Williams and other scientists are thinking about how to combine these organs into a single whole.

Micro-organs more reliably than traditional cell cultures allow you to get acquainted with the reaction of cells of a living organism, the article says. For example, Harvard scientists led by Donald Ingber last year discovered that the very mechanism of respiration encourages an inflammatory response in response to potentially dangerous nanoparticles – a byproduct of the nanotechnology industry. Using "organs on chips", it is possible to simulate the work of human internal organs and their reaction to drugs, Ingber notes. It will also be possible to test potentially dangerous treatments using micro-organs grown from the tissues of the patient himself. This is especially useful for cancer patients, as treatment methods can cause an unpredictable reaction.

Kevin Keith Parker recently demonstrated a beating heart "on a chip": it is a flexible piece of polymer coated with heart cells that are grown from mouse stem cells. "This is an ideal model for testing drugs for heart failure – a condition when heart cells contract too weakly," the publication notes. Parker said that he is already cooperating with a pharmaceutical company.

If you connect Parker's heart with Ingber's lungs, it will be possible to study the effects on the heart of drugs in the form of aerosols, as well as polluted air.

And which organ would you connect next? Parker was asked. "Undoubtedly, the heart," he replied. Williams manages to maintain life in the medulla oblongata, the part of the brain responsible for breathing and other unconscious functions. According to Williams, it will be relatively easy to read signals from the mini-brain that will control the pump – the breathing device of the "mini-lungs".

For his part, Ingber would like to start assembling a model of the body from the kidneys, intestines and liver. His laboratory is trying to recreate intestinal bacteria and their living conditions.

In one of the illustrations for the article Monya Baker Tissue models: A living system on a chip
from the March issue of Nature on one chip are located (from top to bottom)
microscopic bone marrow, tumor and liver – VM.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru23.06.2011