The „lung-on-a-chip” device, about the size of a rubber eraser, is translucent and provides a window into the inner-workings of the human lung without having to invade a living body. It could become a valuable tool for testing the effects of environmental toxins, absorption of aerosolized therapeutics and the safety and efficacy of new drugs. Pharmaceutical development may be accelerated.[1]

The ability of the „lung-on-a-chip” device to predict absorption of airborne nanoparticles and mimic the inflammatory response triggered by microbial pathogens, is a further proof for the concept that organs-on-chips could replace many animal studies.[1] Because many regulatory tests with animals undertaken before releasing new drugs, or for risk-assessment of nanoparticles, could be avoided by using such „organ-on-a-chip” devices.[2]

Ingber and his co-authors write in their publication, published in science, June 2010: “Mechanically active ‘organ-on-a-chip’ microdevices that reconstitute tissue-tissue interfaces critical to organ function may therefore expand the capabilities of cell culture models and provide low-cost alternatives to animal and clinical studies for drug screening and toxicology applications.”[3]

The person: Donald E. Ingber, M.D., Ph.D, is Co-Director of Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and Director at Children’s Hospital of Harvard’s Center for Integration in Medicine and Innovative Technology. He is Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, and Departments of Pathology and Surgery at Children’s Hospital Boston. „His pioneering work demonstrating that living cells mechanically structure themselves at the nanometer scale using tensegrity architecture, and that physical forces distributed over extra cellular matrix, integrins and cytoskeletal networks regulate tissue development, also has uncovered new and highly relevant design criteria for nanotechnologists and tissue engineers.”[4]

More Informations: Wyss Institute, Boston, News-column, June 24 2010: „Living, breathing human lung-on-a-chip: A potential drug-testing alternative“

[1] Ingber, D., Harvard: Living, breathing human lung-on-a-chip June 29, 2010. <http://www.outlookseries.com/N8/Science/3983_Donald_Ingber_Harvard_human_lung-on-a-chip_Donald_Ingber.htm> (July 05 2010)

[2] Huh D., Matthews B. D., Mammoto A., Montoya-Zavala M., Hsin H. Y., Ingber D. E. Reconstituting organ-level lung functions on a chip. In: Science. 2010 Jun 25; 328(5986):1662-8.
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1188302>

[3] Löfken, J. O.: Lunge auf dem Chip. Mit Membranen und winzigen Mikrokanälen simulieren Forscher das Verhalten von Lungenbläschen. In: Wissenschaft aktuell, 25. Juni 2010: <http://www.wissenschaft-aktuell.de/artikel/Lunge_auf_dem_Chip1771015586916.html> (July 05 2010)
[4] North Carolina Biotechnology Center: „Dr. Don Ingber Biography”, <http://www.ncbiotech.org/nanotech/ingber_bio.html> (July 05 2010)