Abstract

Quantitative Assessment of Tissue Chip Technologies

Murat Cirit, Director of Translational Center of Tissue Chip Technologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

A large percentage of drug candidates fail at the clinical trial stage due to a lack of efficacy and unacceptable toxicity, primarily because the in vitro cell culture models and in vivo animal models commonly used in preclinical studies provide limited information about how a drug will affect human physiology. The need for more physiologically relevant in vitro systems for preclinical efficacy and toxicity testing has led to a major effort to develop “Microphysiological Systems (MPS)”, aka tissue chips (TC), based on engineered human tissue constructs. Translational Center of Tissue Translational Center of Tissue Chip Technologies (TC2T) has been established to bridge between academic research and development and industrial application of MPS technologies via providing unbiased testing and validation of MPS technologies. We believe that the full impact of MPS technologies will be realized only when robust approaches for in vitro–in vivo (MPS-to-human) translation are developed and utilized. Therefore, TC2T takes a holistic approach—based on quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP)— to achieve quantitative characterization of these complex systems and translation of experimental insights to clinical outcomes.