5-6th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference, 2021
Microphysiological systems—also called “organs-on-chips,” “tissue chips,” or organoids—are assemblies of living cells on the micro-scale that are engineered to mimic certain key aspects of human tissue or organ physiology, usually by engineering certain aspects of tissue structure and/or their physical and chemical microenvironment. These biological systems are being aggressively pursued as models of diseases for research and for screening drugs to better predict safety and efficacy on the path toward clinical trials. As these systems have begun to advance to commercial application, the need for scaling up has become apparent. However, unlike traditional chemical reaction processes, microphysiological systems cannot be scaled simply by volume and mixing, mainly because of transport limitations of biological processes such as the availability of oxygen and removal of metabolic by-products that greatly affect physiological outcomes. With fixed upper limits on tissue dimensions and volume, scale-up for commercialization will have to rely on massively parallel production and/or innovations in the form factor of conventional tissue cultures, necessities not typically considered by entrepreneurs entering this field.
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