Organ on Chip- A Lung-on-Chip to Test Drugs!

It might sound like a fiction, to put an organ on a chip! Harvard biologists recently developed a lung on chip tool. They speculate that this can be used to test the effect of drugs and other agents before going to clinical trial.

Biopharmaceutical companies spend millions in the discovery of drugs. This kind of tools can cut down the cost.
This may also provide more valuable information on how human lungs responds, without testing on humans.

When we breathe oxygen enters blood through a three-layer interface of lung cells. The lung-on-a-chip microdevice takes a new approach to tissue engineering by placing two layers of living tissues-the lining of the lung's air sacs and the blood vessels that surround them-across a porous, flexible boundary. Air is delivered to the lung lining cells, a rich culture medium flows in the capillary channel to mimic blood and cyclic mechanical stretching mimics breathing. The device was created using a novel microfabrication strategy that uses clear rubbery materials.




More information on this news can be found at the science news website SciGuru.com