Abstract

Human-Based “Body-on-a-Chip” for Drug Development

Michael Shuler, Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Engineering, Cornell University; President Hesperos, Inc.

Human–Based “Body-on-a-Chip” for Drug Development Effective human surrogates constructed from a combination of human tissue engineered constructs, microfabricated devices, and PBPK (physiologically based pharmacokinetic) models offer a potential alternative or supplement to animal studies to make better decisions on which drug candidates to move into clinical trials. These systems have been called icrophysiological systems and we have constructed systems with 2 to 13 “organ” compartments. These systems are operated as self-contained, “pumpless” systems that provide a low cost, relatively simple-to-use platform to evaluate potential drugs for human response. In addition to measuring viability and metabolic responses, we can measure functional outputs such as electrical activity and force generation with a serum-free medium (in collaboration with J. Hickman, University of Central Florida). We will focus our discussion on development of key organ modules and their integration into a model of the whole body.