The Design Museum of London recently awarded Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University for developing "organs-on-chips." The chips are made of silicon and mimic the functions of human organs. The new device is the first design from the field of medicine to win the award.
The developers believe that their lung-on-a-chip, a simulation of the biological processes inside the human lung, could revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry, speed up the development of new drugs and treatments, and end animal testing.
"This is the epitome of design innovation," Paola Antonelli, design curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art, said to The Guardian. "Removing some of the pitfalls of human and animal testing means, theoretically, that drug trials could be conducted faster and their viable results disseminated more quickly."
Antonelli nominated the project for the award and recently acquired organs-on-chips for MoMA's permanent collection.
The organs-on-chips are designed to mimic the functions of human organs inside a chip. The researchers can then monitor the behaviors of bacteria, drugs and human white blood cells through a microscope. They would see that the lung-on-chip contracts and relaxes as air is passed over the cells, much like actual lungs work.
The design that was nominated was for the lungs, but the developers said that they also have devices for kidney and liver. They are currently working on designs for peristaltic gut and skin. They aim to have 10 organs-on-chips ready in two years. They can also combine the organs-on-chips to simulate the human body so they can monitor how drugs flow inside the organs.
Wyss Institute is not the only group that is working on organs-on-chips. Scientists at the NICHD's Perinatology Research Branch have a "placenta-on-a-chip," as HNGN previously reported. The device is designed to imitate the function of a placenta on a micro-level and replicate the transfer of nutrients from mother to fetus.
