MECH-LoC · Mechanically tuned Lung-on-a-Chip device to model pathology and drug screening for lung disease
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-10-15 → 2020-10-14
- EU contribution
- €173,076
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-SE
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Mechanically tuned Lung-on-a-Chip device to model pathology and drug screening for lung disease
The need for improved lung models. Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), like emphysema or chronic bronchitis, affect about 10% of the population, reducing the quality of life for affected patients. To better understand these diseases and to screen potentially efficient drugs, appropriate lung models need to be developed. The current models, based on 2D cell culture or living animal studies, are however quite limited in physiological relevance. Lungs allow oxygen to pass from the air into the blood stream and carbon dioxide to pass from the blood to the air. This exchange of gas works because the walls between the air sacs and blood vessels are very thin and selective to what crosses (“semi-permeable membrane”) with each breath. Lungs are constantly undergoing mechanical stress during breathing, making the elasticity of the membrane a crucial parameter for understanding lung diseases. The aim of this MSCA project was to build a miniature lung device (microfluidic organ-on-chip) with a more mechanically relevant membrane for cell growth and function to replace, reduce and refine animal models of human disease.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The aim of this project is to design a total lung-on-a-chip microfluidic device with a mechanically relevant air-liquid interface to create a cellular environment with more closely matched physiological and functional complexity than conventional lung models. Specifically, we will (i) integrate bronchiole and alveolar sac functional regions of the lung into one chip, and (ii) incorporate a relevant and tunable biomechanical profile into the gas-permeable membrane (mimic of air-liquid interface). This device will address the large and currently unmet need to model organ-level complexity of cells in vitro, in particular with regards to spatial and mechanical cues important for cell function, and provide a superior platform to model lung physiology, function and lung disease treatments. The project will be based on the state-of-the-art technical expertise of Elvesys in microfluidic chip design, fabrication and exquisite control of microfluidic parameters for advanced cell culture, and will fully integrate the Experienced Researcher’s (ER) strong expertise with elastic proteins, liquid interfaces, biomaterial design and mechanical testing to tune membrane stiffness and bioactivity by blending synthetic polymers and natural elastic proteins. Testing, validation and benchmarking of the product will be by perfusion using a set of candidate drugs chosen in consultation with clinician collaborators. This technology will offer clinicians a choice of lung model that is mechanically relevant to a patient’s lung profile (e.g. equivalent to physiological, stiffer or less stiff) for pre-screening of drug efficacy, dosing and toxicity. Through this opportunity the ER will be immersed in a richly entrepreneurial environment at Elvesys and exposed to marketing concepts, IP and patenting. Together, these experiences will provide the ER with the optimal training environment to become a leader in regenerative medicine.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- ELVESYS · PARISCoordinatorFrance
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/793749
- https://www.elveflow.com/microfluidics-research-horizon-europe/european-projects/organ-chip-research-mechanically-tuned-lung-on-a-chip-model-mech-loc-project/
Data: CORDIS, © European Union