Abstract

Industrial Adoption of Integrated Multi-Organ-Chip Solutions

Reyk Horland, CEO, TissUse GmbH

Microphysiological systems have proven to be a powerful tool for recreating human tissue- and organ-like functions at research level. This provides the basis for the establishment of qualified preclinical assays with improved predictive power. Industrial adoption of microphysiological systems and respective assays is progressing slowly due to their complexity. In the first part of the presentation examples of industrial transfer of single-organ chip and two-organ chip solutions are highlighted. The underlying universal microfluidic Multi-Organ-Chip (MOC) platform of a size of a microscopic slide integrating an on-chip micro-pump and capable to interconnect different organ equivalents will be presented. The second part of the presentation focusses on the challenges to translate a MOC-based combination of four human organ equivalents into a commercially useful tool for ADME profiling and toxicity testing of drug candidates. This four-organ tissue chip combines intestine, liver and kidney equivalents for adsorption, metabolism and excretion respectively. Furthermore, it provides an additional tissue culture compartment for a fourth organ equivalent, e.g. skin or neuronal tissue for extended toxicity testing. Issues to ensure long-term performance and industrial acceptance of such complex microphysiological systems, such as design criteria, tissue supply and on chip tissue homeostasis will be discussed.