Issue 18, 2013

The future of the patient-specific Body-on-a-chip

Abstract

As significant advancements in technology focused on Organ-on-a-chip continue, it is feasible to consider the future of Body-on-a-chip technology. With serious work being done to realize functioning artificial livers, kidneys, hearts, and lungs on chips, the next step is not only to interconnect these organs but also to consider the integration of stem cell technology to create interconnected patient-specific organs. Such a patient-specific Body-on-a-chip requires a sophisticated set of tools for micropattering cell cultures in 3D to create interconnected tissue-like organ structures. This review discusses advanced methods of the past two years in on-Chip organs, the complex 3D patterning of cultures and state-of-the-art scaffolding, and discusses some of the most relevant advancements in human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) research applied to these organs and scaffolds for the future of a patient-specific Body-on-a-chip. We anticipate that such a technology would have a wide area of application, primarily benefiting drug development, chemical safety testing, and disease modeling.

Graphical abstract: The future of the patient-specific Body-on-a-chip

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
20 Feb 2013
Accepted
28 Mar 2013
First published
02 Apr 2013

Lab Chip, 2013,13, 3471-3480

The future of the patient-specific Body-on-a-chip

A. Williamson, S. Singh, U. Fernekorn and A. Schober, Lab Chip, 2013, 13, 3471 DOI: 10.1039/C3LC50237F

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