HUMAN ORGANS ON CHIPS

ADU AFARI DERRICK - 8272219

ABRAHAM ADONO GODWIN - 8272019

INTRODUCTION
Before a pharmaceutical drug is introduced into the market, it would need to pass all stages of its
clinical trials. It would first be tested on non-human subjects like rats and the results are reviewed
before the drug can be tested on human subjects. This process of completing all stages of the
clinical trial can take any time from 10 to 15 years.
In 2010 the concept of an organ-on-a-chip was published by Huh et al[1] where a biological system
that mimics the functional alveolar-capillary interface of the human lung was described.
An organ-on-a-chip is a model in which the microenvironment of human organ or tissue is
mimicked on artificial microstructures built on a microfluidic chip. This device is an innovative
technology that makes studying the effect of a pharmaceutical drug on a target organ easier, faster
and cost-effective. Apart from drug testing, organs-on-chip make great models for diseases like
pulmonary edema and type 2 diabetes [2].
STRUCTURE
The structure of an organ-on-a-chip is dependent on its purpose. It is made up of a clear flexible
polymer that contains hollow microfluidic channels lined by living human cells interfaced with a
human endothelial cell-lined artificial vasculature, and mechanical forces can be applied to mimic
the physical microenvironment of living organs.





 INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM
An instrumentation system is a collection of instruments used to measure, monitor and control a
process. The instrumentation system considered here will be the bladder on a chip system. The
bladder-on-a-chip has to be interfaced with a sensor, processing software in a research system.

MEASURAND
SIGNAL
(Galectin-1 SENSOR PROCESSING DISPLAY
protein)

The measurand in the bladder-on-a-chip is the galectin-1 protein. This protein is a tumor marker for
urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma and can be found in the bladder[3]. The chip is placed in the
research system and the chemical/drug can be added to the research system to monitor how the
galectin-1 protein in the chip will react.
The data on the research system can be sent to a software app that can model and analyze the data
to further view the effect of the drug on the galectin-1 protein in the bladder-on-chip.
The software is designed to provide precise control of the organ system’s living microenvironment.
After processing, the results are displayed and compared to the physiological level of galectin-1
protein in the bladder.

REFERENCES

[1] D. Huh, G. A. Hamilton, and D. E. Ingber, “Special Issue-3D Cell Biology From 3D cell
culture to organs-on-chips,” Trends in Cell Biology, vol. 21, pp. 745–754, 2011, doi:
10.1016/j.tcb.2011.09.005.
[2] Y. Quan et al., “Organ-on-a-chip: The next generation platform for risk assessment of
radiobiology,” RSC Advances, vol. 10, no. 65, pp. 39521–39530, Oct. 2020, doi: 10.1039/
D0RA05173J.
[3] K.-H. Shen et al., “Role of galectin-1 in urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma cell invasion
through the JNK pathway,” Cancer Sci, vol. 107, pp. 1390–1398, 2016, doi: 10.1111/
cas.13016.