Organs-on-chips, Volume II

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "B:Biology and Biomedicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 15600

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8540, Japan
2. Department of Micro Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8540, Japan
Interests: microfluidics; tissue engineering; biomimetics; mechanobiology; stem cells and niches
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Guest Editor
Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
Interests: integrated biomedical microdevices; cell culture in various micro-environments; micro/nanofluidics; advanced micro/nano fabrication techniques
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent advances in microsystems technology and cell culture techniques have led to the development of organ-on-chip microdevices that produce tissue-level functionality, not possible with conventional culture models, by recapitulating natural tissue architecture and microenvironmental cues within microfluidic devices.  Since the physiological microenvironments in living systems are mostly microfluidic in nature, the use of microfluidic devices facilitates engineering cellular microenvironments; the microfluidic devices allow for control of local chemical gradients and dynamic mechanical forces, which play important roles in cellular viability and function.  The organ-on-chip microdevices have great potential to promote drug discovery and development, to model human physiology and disease, and to replace animal models for efficacy and toxicity testing.  Recently, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have been leveraged to develop organs-on-chips, which enable various types of organ models and disease models not possible with primary cells and cell lines. 

This Special Issue seeks to showcase research papers, short communications, and review articles that focus on: (1) microdevices to mimic or control cellular microenvironment; (2) microdevices to evaluate interactions between different organ models; (3) microdevices to maintain iPS cells or iPSC-derived cells; and (4) sensors and techniques to evaluate drug efficacy or toxicity.

Dr. Yu-suke Torisawa
Dr. Yi-Chung Tung
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Microfluidics
  • Lab on a Chip
  • Tissue Engineering
  • Cell Culture Methods
  • BioMEMS

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 5427 KiB  
Article
Transwell Insert-Embedded Microfluidic Devices for Time-Lapse Monitoring of Alveolar Epithelium Barrier Function under Various Stimulations
by Shu-Han Chang, Ping-Liang Ko, Wei-Hao Liao, Chien-Chung Peng and Yi-Chung Tung
Micromachines 2021, 12(4), 406; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12040406 - 6 Apr 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 6924
Abstract
This paper reports a transwell insert-embedded microfluidic device capable of culturing cells at an air-liquid interface (ALI), mimicking the in vivo alveolar epithelium microenvironment. Integration of a commercially available transwell insert makes the device fabrication straightforward and eliminates the tedious device assembly processes. [...] Read more.
This paper reports a transwell insert-embedded microfluidic device capable of culturing cells at an air-liquid interface (ALI), mimicking the in vivo alveolar epithelium microenvironment. Integration of a commercially available transwell insert makes the device fabrication straightforward and eliminates the tedious device assembly processes. The transwell insert can later be detached from the device for high-resolution imaging of the cells. In the experiments, the cells showing type-I pneumocyte markers are exploited to construct an in vitro alveolar epithelium model, and four culture conditions including conventional liquid/liquid culture (LLC) and air–liquid interface (ALI) cell culture in normal growth medium, and ALI cell culture with inflammatory cytokine (TNF-α) stimulation and ethanol vapor exposure are applied to investigate their effects on the alveolar epithelium barrier function. The barrier permeability is time-lapse monitored using trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) measurement and immunofluorescence staining of the tight junction protein (ZO-1). The results demonstrate the functionalities of the device, and further show the applications and advantages of the constructed in vitro cell models for the lung studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organs-on-chips, Volume II)
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9 pages, 2627 KiB  
Article
Low-Cost Battery-Powered and User-Friendly Real-Time Quantitative PCR System for the Detection of Multigene
by Junru An, Yangyang Jiang, Bing Shi, Di Wu and Wenming Wu
Micromachines 2020, 11(4), 435; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11040435 - 21 Apr 2020
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3658
Abstract
Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the standard for nucleic acid detection and plays an important role in many fields. A new chip design is proposed in this study to avoid the use of expensive instruments for hydrophobic treatment of the surface, and [...] Read more.
Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the standard for nucleic acid detection and plays an important role in many fields. A new chip design is proposed in this study to avoid the use of expensive instruments for hydrophobic treatment of the surface, and a new injection method solves the issue of bubbles formed during the temperature cycle. We built a battery-powered real-time PCR device to follow polymerase chain reaction using fluorescence detection and developed an independently designed electromechanical control system and a fluorescence analysis software to control the temperature cycle, the photoelectric detection coupling, and the automatic analysis of the experimental data. The microchips and the temperature cycling system cost USD 100. All the elements of the device are available through open access, and there are no technical barriers. The simple structure and manipulation allows beginners to build instruments and perform PCR tests after only a short tutorial. The device is used for analysis of the amplification curve and the melting curve of multiple target genes to demonstrate that our instrument has the same accuracy and stability as a commercial instrument. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organs-on-chips, Volume II)
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Review

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24 pages, 30108 KiB  
Review
Physiological and Disease Models of Respiratory System Based on Organ-on-a-Chip Technology
by Di Wang, Ye Cong, Quanfeng Deng, Xiahe Han, Suonan Zhang, Li Zhao, Yong Luo and Xiuli Zhang
Micromachines 2021, 12(9), 1106; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12091106 - 15 Sep 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4248
Abstract
The pathogenesis of respiratory diseases is complex, and its occurrence and development also involve a series of pathological processes. The present research methods are have difficulty simulating the natural developing state of the disease in the body, and the results cannot reflect the [...] Read more.
The pathogenesis of respiratory diseases is complex, and its occurrence and development also involve a series of pathological processes. The present research methods are have difficulty simulating the natural developing state of the disease in the body, and the results cannot reflect the real growth state and function in vivo. The development of microfluidic chip technology provides a technical platform for better research on respiratory diseases. The size of its microchannel can be similar to the space for cell growth in vivo. In addition, organ-on-a-chip can achieve long-term co-cultivation of multiple cells and produce precisely controllable fluid shear force, periodically changing mechanical force, and perfusate with varying solute concentration gradient. To sum up, the chip can be used to analyze the specific pathophysiological changes of organs meticulously, and it is widely used in scientific research on respiratory diseases. The focus of this review is to describe and discuss current studies of artificial respiratory systems based on organ-on-a-chip technology and to summarize their applications in the real world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organs-on-chips, Volume II)
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