Abstract

Advancing Preclinical in vitro Pulmonary Platforms For Ventilation and Inhalation Assays

Josué Sznitman, Associate Professor, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Over the past years, advanced in vitro pulmonary platforms have witnessed exciting developments that are pushing beyond traditional preclinical cell culture methods. Here, we discuss ongoing efforts in bridging the gap between in vivo and in vitro interfaces and identify some of the bioengineering challenges that lie ahead in delivering new generations of human-relevant preclinical in vitro pulmonary platforms. Undeniably, there still remains a recognized trade-off between the physiological and biological complexity of in vitro lung models and exemplify various models developed in our group. With growing interest in aerosol transmission and infection of respiratory viruses within a host, most notably the SARS-CoV-2 virus amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of crosstalk between the different lung regions (i.e. extra-thoracic, conductive and respiratory), with distinct cellular makeups and physiology, are acknowledged to play an important role in the progression of the disease from the initial onset of infection. We showcase a number of examples from our group including the first multi-compartment human airway-on-chip platform to serve as a preclinical in vitro benchmark underlining regional lung crosstalk for viral infection pathways.