Built by a fully automated, digital manufacturing procedure, the 3D-printed heart-on-a-chip can be quickly fabricated and customized, allowing researchers to easily collect reliable data for short-term and long-term studies.
This new approach to manufacturing may one day allow researchers to rapidly design organs-on-chips, also known as microphysiological systems, that match the properties of a specific disease or even an individual patient’s cells.
Organs-on-chips mimic the structure and function of native tissue and have emerged as a promising alternative to traditional animal testing. Harvard researchers have developed microphysiological systems that mimic the microarchitecture and functions of lungs, hearts, tongues and intestines.
However, the fabrication and data collection process for organs-on-chips is expensive and laborious. Currently, these devices are built in clean rooms using a complex, multi-step lithographic process and collecting data requires microscopy or high-speed cameras.
Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQBK4_byRvc
Source & further reading:https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2016/10/3d-printed-heart-on-chip-with-integrated-sensors
Paper:http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat4782.html
Corina Marinescu
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