TITLE:
Organs-on-a-Chip: A Future of Rational Drug-Design
AUTHORS:
Stephen Shay
KEYWORDS:
Organ-on-a-Chip, Microfluidics, Animal Models, Ethics, Drug Design
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.5 No.9,
August
24,
2017
ABSTRACT: Many recent advances in biomedical research are
related to the combination of biology and microengineering. Microfluidic
devices, such as organ-on-a-chip
systems, integrate with living cells to allow for the detailed in vitro study of human physiology and
pathophysiology. With the poor translation from animal models to human models,
the organ-on-a-chip technology has become a promising substitute for animal
testing, and their small scale enables precise control of culture conditions
and high-throughput experiments, which would not be an economically sound model
on a macroscopic level. These devices are becoming more and more common in
research centers, clinics, and hospitals, and are contributing to more accurate
studies and therapies, making them a staple technology for future drug design.