Biodefense Aims to Simulate Human Bodies by Linking Mini "Organs on Chips"

2. 18. 15 by Alex Klokus

A common way to form a model organ is to seed cells into channels in a small plastic chip and then feed them with nutrient-rich fluid that flows through the system to mimic blood. The devices can be used individually or connected to other types of organs-on-chips to approximate a biological system, or—eventually—perhaps an entire human body.
The US Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce next month an US$18-million programme to link ‘livers on chips’ with chips that simulate fetal membranes, mammary glands and developing limbs.
Researchers have already developed dozens of individual model organs; the next challenge is to hook them together with the eventual goal of forming an entire human body on a chip.