In order to reduce the huge waste in new drug research, the United States initiated the R & D efforts of "Organs-On-Chips" (human organ chip), planning $ 75 million. According to legend, "Drug Wang Shen" Shennong is determined to taste vast grass and dismissature in order to disasters and disasters from the people. Shennong is all overwhelming, and many poisoning have eventually passed on the death of the grass. Don't think that this kind of thing only happens in mythology, the famous Barry Marshall has done more "out". In order to study the pathogenicity of Helicobacter pylori, Marshall is actually drinking the Helicobacter pylori of the test tube. In the end, after 5 days, his purpose reached, it almost sick. Later, he won the 2005 Nobel Physiological Medicine Award because of the contribution of Helicobacterium.
The reason why Marshall is "will be able to have a poison", "is not because the technology is backward, or there is no suitable research model. Later, because the trial is too dangerous, I will catch the small white mouse, the monkey, etc., let them go to the top bag "Try 100". At the same time, in order to study the influence of new drugs on the human body, scientists began to cultivate human cells in the petri dish to see if these new drugs are not toxic side effects on human cells. Those new drugs have only passed the two levels to enter the human body clinical trial.
However, mice and human varying cells do not have a good gate of the drug for humans. According to statistics, new drugs entering clinical trials, through the probability of clinical I and III, only 30% of the probability of clinical II, so that only 10.8% of drugs can be successfully passed through the third phase clinical trial . Those new drugs that were clinically opened, mainly because of the curative effect, or even toxic side effects on the human body.
90% of new drugs must be caught by KO, how huge waste. According to statistics, now a new market city, the average R & D cost is as high as 1 billion, lasting for 8-4 years. A more rapid and effective clinical experimental method, shorten the drug research and development cycle, and reduce research and development costs.
Human organ chip research and development plan
In order to solve this problem, the 2012 US National Health Research Center (NIH), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and US Department of Defense Senior Research Project (DARPA) jointly launched "Organs-On-Chips" (body organ chip " The research and development work, plans to invest $ 75 million.
Let's take a look at the lineup of participating in the R & D team: Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Harvard University, Hopkins University, Massachusetts University, Wisconsin University, CA, University of Washington, Van Tendong University, German Near University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania.
What technology does this "Organs-on-Chips" have touched so many top-level agencies?
Below we will take the innovative work of the WYSS Institute of Harvard University, and explain "Organs-On-Chips" technology.
In the pre-experiment of new drugs, the use of a small mouse model can understand the overall impact of new drugs, but it is not a good response to new drugs to the human body; use in vitro cultivated human cells, you can understand the influence of new drugs on the human body, but lacks Overall grasp. Therefore, as early as 10 years ago, Mike Shuler, Cornell University, was first proposed, and the cells of different organs of the human body were constructed on the chip and the idea of simulating human environment.
The pulmonary chip developed by WYSS research, the basic structure of the chip
WYSS Institute uses technology to make computer chips, implant the live body cells into the chip, while the chip can simulate the environment in the human body. There are three parallel fluid channels in the channel of the chip, and the channels on both sides are vacuum channels, and the intermediate passage is the passage of the implanted cells.
There is a constitutive biofilm in the middle of the intermediate channel, and the film is covered with a small hole. The upper surface of the film is covered with a lung cell, and the other surface of the film is covered with vascular cells. Therefore, the upper surface of the film can be circulated, and the blood can be circulated below. In addition, the vacuum channel on both sides can shrink, and the intermediate passage is switched together, and the pulmonary cells are also contracted, which simulates the contraction physiological process of the human alveoli in the respiratory process.
Working principle of human chip
When we want to simulate the lung infection, we can release pathogens in the upper tunnel of lung cells; then add human white blood cells in the lower passage. When the leukocyte feels the invasion of pathogenic bacteria, they will enter the lungs and phagocytic bacteria from the blood. If you want the entire immune process, you can mark the white blood cells, then you can see white blood cells in the microscope, then pass through the small holes on the film, phagocytogenic bacteria infected pulmonary cells (by Green tag). In this way, the entire study has become visible.
Does it feel that this technology is magical. Of course, the human body immune process described above is only one of the applications. Scientists from the WYSS Institute obviously do not satisfy this, now they have developed a variety of organ chips. It is expected to understand the drug, chemical substances, food or even the impact of cosmetics on the human body through this technology.
At present, Scientists from WYSS Institute have formed a company -EMUlate Inc. companies that specialize in the human organ chip. The company was founded in the founding of DARPA, $ 37 million of $ 37 million, as well as 12 million USA financing. In addition to the lungs, they have developed the chip of intestines, liver, kidney, and skin, eyes and blood barrier systems.
At present, the use of the simulated human chip is widely used. For example, understand the biological mechanism of new drug targets, providing new perspectives for the study of disease, predicting the effectiveness and safety of new drugs, exploring the differences in species and clinical manifestations, reduction, refining, and replacing animal tests, clinical diagnosis Development, personalized medical applications, etc.
At present, Emulate's research team is developing a bold body research program. They want to customize organ chips for personal custom organs. This research is very likely to completely change our understanding of your body.
The final chip should be like this, integrating all the human organs into a chip, so you can fully understand the impact of new drugs on important organs of human body.
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