An Organ on a Chip Platform for Biomedical Applications

Organ on a chip devices are an emerging technology which employ microfluidics to grow 3D tissues, mimicking the physiological conditions found in vivo. As a result, these devices have the potential to have an impact on research into areas such as disease mechanisms, drug discovery, drug delivery, toxicology, diagnostics and regenerative therapies.

 By applying expertise in materials science and cell biology, this project aims to develop an organ on a chip platform which can be used to study the formation of tissue constructs and their subsequent function and behaviour. The natural tissue structure will be recreated within a small-scale device, enabling the conditions required to optimize tissue formation to be studied in detail, ideally with continuous monitoring of cell growth and metabolism.

 This project will provide training in biomaterials and cell biology, with techniques likely to include cell culture, biomaterial modification, 3D design and printing, microfabrication, fluorescence microscopy, metabolic assays, immunocytochemistry, histology and scanning electron microscopy.