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Thursday, 18 March 2021 10:20

Hebrew University: Bionic Organ-on-a-chips to treat drug-induced Nephrotoxicity Featured

A team of researchers led by Professor Yaakov Nahmias, director of the Grass Center for Bioengineering at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and founder of Tissue Dynamic, has presented a new technological approach with the potential to develop new drugs quickly and rapidly and without animal testing.


The Hebrew University team developed a human-on-a-chip technology, consisting of human tissue that incorporates microscopic cell stress sensors in a device, allowing the team to accurately monitor the body's response to certain drug treatments.

The team was able to show that a commonly used cancer drug, cisplatin, caused a dangerous fat deposition in human kidneys. They subsequently combined this chemotherapy with another drug, empagliflozin (Jardiance), which was developed to limit the absorption of sugar in the kidneys, thus reducing the damage caused by the fat deposition and minimize the kidney damage that cancer patients experience during therapy.

The scientists presented their development in the journal Science Translational Medicine:
Aaron Cohen, Konstantinos Ioannidis, Avner Ehrlich, Shaun Regenbaum, Merav Cohen, Muneef Ayyash, Sigal Shafran Tikva & Yaakov Nahmias (2021). Mechanism and reversal of drug-induced nephrotoxicity on a chip. Science Translational Medicine 13/582, eabd6299. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abd6299

Sources:
https://www.bionity.com/en/news/1170253/can-chips-replace-animal-testing.html
https://www.nahmias-lab.com/innovations
https://www.tissuedynamics.com/our-technology