Abstract

Development of Pumpless Single-Organ and Multi-Organ MPS

Mandy Esch, Project Leader, NIST

Single and multi-organ microphysiologic systems (MPS) can be used to detect secondary drug toxicities stemming from drug metabolites. Here we describe how to design and prototype such systems to replicate key aspects of the human body that influence the concentration of drug metabolites within the system. Using 3D printing we have prototyped and tested several microfluidic MPS that operate with liver and heart tissues and that can recirculate near-physiological amounts of cell culture medium. We have also developed several devices that recirculate small amounts of cell culture medium in a way that makes it feasible to culture mechano-sensitive cells such as HUVEC or GI tract epithelial cells within the system. The talk given here is a summary of our efforts in this area.