AIMBE
A first-of-its-kind device that replicates human blood flow waveforms in the lab opens doors for advancing the study of vascular diseases, discovering drugs and supporting safe space travel.
For more than 25 years, lab-on-a-chip technology has allowed researchers to model human organs and blood vessels by using real human cells in artificial microscopic environments. These micro-physiological systems (MPS) may replicate human cells and mimic organs or even full organ systems under numerous conditions. They have become key to studying everything from heart disease to the effectiveness of new drugs.
However, they have been held back by one major limitation: an inability to accurately re-create the blood flow waveforms arising from the human heart.
“We have been struggling over decades to actually find a stable perfusion system,” said Dr. Abhishek Jain, associate professor of biomedical engineering and Barbara and Ralph Cox ’53 Faculty Fellow at Texas A&M University… Continue reading.
