Source: Imec
Today, at the annual Imec Technology Forum (ITF 2018) in Antwerp, Belgium, Imec unveiled its platform of organ-on-chip for pharmacological studies. The high-quality signal device is designed using Imec’s high-density multi-electrode array-chip (MEA) and a microfluidic well plate developed in collaboration with Micronit Microtechnologies.
The novel device provides an environment where cells can be cultured similarly to human physiology. Multiple tests can be performed in unison, giving the pharmaceutical industry a game-changer for drug-development processes.
The design used by Imec consists of 16 wells in the microfluidic assembly with 1,024 electrodes in each well for a total of 16,384 electrodes. Each electrode can detect intracellular action. In addition, Imec’s chip is patterned with microstructures to facilitate structured cell growth mimicking a specific organ.
“By using grooves, heart cells can, for example, grow into a more heart-like tissue. In this way, we fabricate miniature hearts-on-a-chip, making it possible to test the effect of drugs in a more biologically relevant context. Imec’s organ-on-chip platform is the first system that enables on-chip multi-well assays, which means that you can perform different experiments or — in other words — analyze different compounds, in parallel on a single chip,” explained Veerle Reumers, project leader at Imec. “This is a considerable increase in throughput compared to current single-well MEAs and we aim to further increase the throughput by adding more wells in a system.”
This novel chip can be a substitute for live animals used in drug testing.
