Sreemoyee Chatterjee
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Written By: Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Published : October 29, 2018 10:18 PM IST
Here's a unique way of real-time monitoring of cells © Shutterstock
With this breakthrough technique, real-time monitoring cells will now become even easier, thanks to this group of scientists that has come up with a three-dimensional (3D) ''organ on a chip" that enables real-time continuous supervision of cells. According to experts, this could be used to develop new treating methods for diseases alongwith curbing the number of animals used in research.
According to a recent media report, this device that incorporates cells inside a 3D transistor made out of a soft sponge-like material inspired by native tissue structure, will offer the scientists the ability to read cells and tissues in a unique way. By making the cells to grow in three dimensions, this device will more accurately mimic the steps of cell growth inside the body.
"With this system, we can monitor the growth of the tissue, and its health in response to external drugs or toxins. Apart from toxicology testing, we can also induce a particular disease in the tissue, and study the key mechanisms involved in that disease or discover the right treatments," reportedly said Charalampos Pitsalidis, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge. The study has appeared in the journal Science Advances.
The researchers stated that their device could be modifies to produce multiple types of organs, like a liver on a chip or a heart on a chip
ultimately resulting in body on a chip that would help in stimulating the way various treatments affect the body as whole, highlighted a recent media report.
The experts pointed out that this device is based on a "scaffold" of a conducting polymer sponge, configured into an electrochemical transistor. The cells are first grown within the scaffold and the entire device is then fitted inside a plastic tube via which the necessary nutrients for the cells can flow. The researchers have planned to make use of this device to come up with a ''gut on a chip'' and then attach it to a ''brain on a chip'' in order to study the relationship between the gut microbiome and brain function.
