Connected tissues · Human physiology
Body-on-a-chip
What happens in one organ can affect another. We build small, connected tissue models to study these interactions outside the body.
Why it matters
A medicine does not act on an isolated cell. It travels through the body, meets biological barriers, and may be changed by the liver before reaching its target. Conventional dishes are useful, but they often miss communication between tissues. A body-on-a-chip connects selected living cell or tissue models through tiny fluid channels, allowing us to ask how one compartment changes another.
How we study it
- Build a model for a specific questionChoose the tissues and cell types needed to study an interaction, such as the connection between the gut and liver. The goal is useful biological function, not a tiny copy of every organ.
- Connect and measureControl fluid flow and compare connected cultures with tissues grown separately. Microscopy, molecular measurements, and gene-expression analysis reveal how the cells respond.
- Learn from how organs developOur reverse bioengineering perspective asks whether the timing of signals, tissue organization, and mechanical cues during development can guide better organ-chip design.
Published examples
Reverse Bioengineering of the Liver: Developmental Principles for Next-Generation Liver-on-a-Chip Systems
A development-first roadmap for liver models, linking stem-cell biology, tissue organization, and engineered environments. It proposes design principles and future directions; it does not report a completed clinical liver replacement.
Integrated-gut-liver-on-a-chip platform as an in vitro human model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Gut- and liver-like human cell lines were connected in a circulating chip to study responses to fatty acids. Connected and separate cultures behaved differently, illustrating why inter-tissue communication matters.