ON CHIP SENSING AND FLUIDIC INTEGRATION FOR ORGAN-ON-CHIP SYSTEMS

Description:
Organ-on-a-chip represents an innovative platform for cultivating organoids ex vivo. Based on the lab-on-a-chip concept, it consists of various elements such as microfluidics, microsensors, and microactuators. These components are typically fabricated using standard micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) or soft lithography processes, allowing diverse biochemical analysis functions to be incorporated into a single and compact system. Due to its miniaturization and high-throughput capabilities for cell incubation and sensing, organ-on-a-chip systems can handle small sample volumes and perform multiplex or multi-parallel assays, substantially reducing reagent costs and testing time.In this workshop, we will provide a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in organ-on-a-chip systems for disease diagnosis, drug development, and monitoring of physiological conditions. We will also introduce representative organ-on-a-chip systems, and attendees will learn how to design these systems and their key components, including fluidic control systems and embedded sensors. Finally, we will discuss the challenges and future development directions of organ-on-a-chip technology.

Objectives:
This workshop part contains 3 lectures:

1. On-chip vascular network for 3D tissue culture (Dr. Yokokawa): The first lecture will present an overview of on-chip vascular network formation for 3D tissue cultures. It relies on angiogenesis and/or vasculogenesis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and other type of ECs. Based on pioneering work of on-chip vascular network, it has been used to anastomose a tumor spheroid and organoids to create in vivo-like microenvironments to evaluate the efficacy of an anti-tumor drug. When angiogenic factors are not enough, vascular bed is an option to co-culture with any kind of tissues to be vascularized on a chip. Moreover, recent challenges of tissue vascularization using stem cell technologies will be discussed.
   
   
2. Electrophysical and electrochemical sensors for detecting cell functions in OoCs (Dr. Toh). The second lecture will provide an overview of integrating electrochemical and electrophysical biosensors for cell function measurement in an organ-on-a-chip systems, highlighting their benefits over conventional optical-based and other techniques. Key topics will cover examples of electrophysical measurements of contractile forces in cardiac and skeletal tissues, electrophysiological measurement via MEA or TEER assessments, altogether with electrochemical analyte detection using aptamer and antibody-based sensors. The challenges of integrating these miniaturized biosensors with organ-on-a-chip systems, such as maintaining accuracy and system compatibility, will be discussed.
   
   
3. Fluidic control systems and embedded sensing techniques for Organ-on-Chip systems (Dr. Huang). The third lecture will provide an overview of our recent advancements in developing fluidic control systems and embedded sensing techniques for HUVEC physiological conditions under glucose concentration gradient, hypoxia and shear stress stimulation. We will also address current challenges and future directions in integrating on-chip sensors for Organ-on-Chip systems. Additionally, we will highlight several ongoing research works from academic and startup companies.