Organ-on-a-Chip Glomerulus and Nephrotube Model

目前的药物开发模式需要进行广泛的动物研究。这些可能需要数年时间才能完成，结果可能无法准确预测人类的反应。一种前进的方法是开发模拟整个器官功能的体外模型，即所谓的芯片上器官概念。芯片上器官的当前技术状态是基于在设备内共培养中的单个细胞类型的群体或两个不同(但分离的)细胞群体的微培养。这一概念已成功地用于模拟肺、肾和肠道组织。然而，这种设计是二维的，不能准确地模拟器官结构。这项后续的基金提案将进一步发展芯片上器官的概念，在BBSRC以前资助的操纵细胞片的工作基础上建立更好的器官组织模型。这将用于开发改进的芯片上肾模型，并应用于药物毒性测试和药物开发。

The current model for drug development requires the need for extensive animal studies. These can take years to complete and results may not accurately predict response in humans. One way forward is to develop in vitro models that mimic whole organ function, the so called organ-on-a-chip concept. The current state of the artfor the organ-on-a-chip is based on the microculture of populations of a single cell type or two different (but separated) cell populations in coculture within a device. This concept has been successfully used to create mimics of lung, kidney and gut tissue. However, this design is 2-dimensional and cannot accurately mimic organ structure. This follow on fund proposal will develop the organ-on-a-chip concept further by building a better model of organ tissue building on prior BBSRC funded work manipulating sheets of cells. This will be used to develop improved models of a kidney-on-a-chip with applications in drug toxicity testing and drug development.