Soon, tiny ‘organ on chips’ may replace animal testing

Researchers have developed a new 'organs-on-chips' technology that could replace animals for testing new drugs or supplements.

The flexible polymer organ-chips contain tiny channels lined with living human cells and are capable of reproducing blood and air flow just as in the human body. (Source: Emulate Inc)

Researchers have developed a new ‘organs-on-chips’ technology that could replace animals for testing new drugs or supplements.The flexible polymer organ-chips contain tiny channels lined with living human cells and are capable of reproducing blood and air flow just as in the human body.The chips are translucent, giving researchers a window into the inner workings of the organ being studied.

Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a multi-year research and development agreement with a company called Emulate, founded by researchers at Harvard University, to evaluate the “organs-on-chips” technology.Research will begin with a liver-chip but the agreement may expand in the future to cover additional organ-chips, including kidney, lung and intestine models, FDA said.

The ultimate goal is to predict how specific organs will respond to exposure to potential chemical hazards found in foods, cosmetics and/or dietary supplements with greater precision than other methods currently being used, such as cell-culture or animal-based tests.”The chips were first developed to evaluate the effectiveness of drugs but have come to be seen as a potentially useful technology in our efforts to ensure the safety of the foods and cosmetics we regulate,” FDA said.

Also Read: Cloning of human organs a step closer?

“For example, they can be put to work to see how the body processes an ingredient in a dietary supplement or a chemical in a cosmetic and how a toxin or combination of toxins affects cells, information that ultimately can be used to help assess risks to human health,” it said.Organs-on-chips have been the focus of a public-private collaboration between FDA, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2012.

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