Organ On Chips is the End of Animal Testing?

The end of animal testing could finally be near as new smart microchips developed by engineers at the Harvard University promises to render the practice unnecessary. The new technology, aptly called organs-on-chip, is designed to simulate several human organ functions but on a microscale. These microchips can mimic the lungs, the intestines or the heart, making them ideal for testing cosmetics and drugs without using animal subjects and at lesser costs.

The revolutionary concept behind the Human Organs-On-Chip project was awarded the Design of the Year given by the London's Design Museum. It was able to beat out the self-driving car design developed by Google.

"The microdevices have the potential ability to deliver transformative change to pharmaceutical development and human healthcare due to the accuracy at which they emulate human organ-level functions," the developers of the organs-on-chips said.

"They stand to significantly reduce the need for animal testing by providing a faster, less expensive, less controversial and accurate means to predict whether new drug compounds will be successful in human clinical trials."

To create the Harvard microchips, the developers first had to produce a small plastic block with microchannels coursing through it. They then lined these tubes using a porous membrane with human cells taken from the lungs and several blood vessels.

This membrane layer is used to separate a solution of white blood cells required to kill off body infections from a space where cells of bacteria are kept.

The membranes are then expanded and contracted in order to allow the white blood cells to reach the bacteria cells and attack them, much like how they destroy infections in the body. Scientists would then be able to use the microchips to test the reaction of this immune system to various infectious diseases.

The design for the organs-on-chips was first conceptualized by Donald Ingber, founder of Harvard's Wyss Institute, and Dan Dongeun Huh, a former Wyss Institute developer, back in 2010.

In 2014, scientists from Harvard established a new company named Emulate to commercialize the smart microchips. "This is a big win towards achieving our Institute's mission of transforming medicine and the environment by developing breakthrough technologies and facilitating their translation from the benchtop to the marketplace," Ingber said.

Last week, Emulate entered a deal with drug manufacturer Janssen to make use of the organs-on-chips for the pharmaceutical firm's research.

Taking a Look at Microscope Fluidics Kit from Corsolution

Corsolutions is new in the market and it is one of the firm that you should check out if you are having the hard time in finding your microfluidic devices. One of the product of this firm is Microscope Fluidics Kit.



Kit Features:

Four magnetic connectors

Base plate to fit your microscope

All necessary hardware



Kit Features:

Connectors mount to base plates magnetically

Connectors position easily to any location

Compatible with any microdevice on your upright or inverted microscope

Non-permanent compression seals remain leak-tight at greater than 500 psi





How It Works

Standard inverted microscope

Attach base plate

Put connectors in place



Kits are Compatible with a Wide Variety of Upright or Inverted Microscopes Including:

Nikon

Olympus

Zeiss

A Brief Recap about Microfuidic Chips

A microfluidic chips is an arrangement of smaller scale channels scratched or formed into a material (glass, silicon or polymer, for example, PDMS, for PolyDimethylSiloxane). The small scale channels shaping the microfluidic chip are associated together with a specific end goal to accomplish craved capacities (blend, pump, sort, control bio-substance environment).

This system of miniaturized scale diverts caught in the microfluidic chip is joined with the outside by inputs and yields punctured through the chip, as an interface between the large scale and smaller scale world.

It is through these gaps that the fluids (or gas) are infused and expelled from the microfluidic chip (through tubing, syringe connectors or even straightforward openings in the chip) with outer dynamic frameworks (weight controller, push-syringe or peristatic pump) or aloof ways (e.g. hydrostatic weight).

In the event that specialists can now pick between a full arrangement of materials to manufacture his microfluidic chips, one must consider that, at first, the creation procedure of a microfluidic chip depended on photolithographic systems, got from the all around developped semiconductor industry.

The utilization of various materials for microfluidics chips, for example, polymers (e.g. PDMS), earthenware production (e.g. glass), semi-conductors (e.g. silicon) and metal is as of now conceivable on account of the improvement of particular procedures: testimony and electrodeposition, drawing, holding, infusion embellishment, emblazoning and delicate lithography (particularly with PDMS).

Access to these materials makes it conceivable to plan microfluidic chips with new components like particular optical attributes, natural or substance similarity, quicker prototyping or lower generation costs, probability of electrosensing, and so forth… The last decision relies on upon the pointed application.

These days, a great deal of analysts utilization PDMS and delicate lithography because of their effortlessness and quick process. They permit scientists to quickly manufacture models and test their applications/setups, rather than squandering time in difficult creation conventions. In spite of normal convictions, delicate lithography does not oblige many square meters of clean room space. In reality, a little seat space under a lab smoke hood is adequate to place key fast PDMS prototyping instruments to rapidly survey microfluidic ideas and acquire publishable result

How Do Flow Meters Work

Flow meters are devices that are used to measure the flow rate of a certain liquid or gas. They can measure these substances in terms of the volumetric flow rate or the mass flow rate. The volumetric flow rate is generally given in m3/second. The mass flow rate is given in kg/second. Flow meters have many applications. For individuals, a peak flow meter can measure the lung capacity. This is also used by people with asthma and can be used to determine if an asthma attack is imminent. Other than that, flow meters are used in many industries, like the food processing industry, water management, semi conductor fabrication and many others. This article will give a brief overview of how flow meters work.

Flow meters are generally classified by the principal that governs their operation or possibly by their applications. For instance, mass flow meters measure the flow rate of a medium in terms of it's mass. However, there are types of mass flow meters that use different methods to take this measurement.

Ultrasonic and Doppler shift flow meters also use the changes caused to sound waves to correlate a rate of flow for the medium passing through the meter. In the case of the ultrasonic flow meter, two transmitters of ultrasonic sound waves are placed at the ends of a pipe where the measure is to take place. Each transmitter sends a pulse of sound.

The transmitters also act as a receiver of the wave sent by the other transmitter. One pulse of sound is sent in the direction of the flow of the liquid and the other is sent against the flow. If various constants are known about the metal of the pipe and the liquid or gas passing through the pipe, a rate of flow can be derived from the time it takes each sound wave to reach the receiver. Doppler shift flow meters use the changes in the frequency and amplitude of a sound wave when it bounces off particulate matter in the liquid that is being measured to determine the flow rate.

A more traditional type of flow meter is the variable area flow meter that uses a float in a calibrated tube. When a substance passes through the tube, the float is displaced by the flow. By taking the reading from the calibrated tube an indication of the flow rate can be determined. This is the principle of the peak flow meter used for lung capacity and asthma.