Advances in Organ-on-a-Chip Materials and Devices

Abstract

The organ-on-a-chip (OoC) paves a way for biomedical applications ranging from preclinical to clinical translational precision. The current trends in the in vitro modeling is to reduce the complexity of human organ anatomy to the fundamental cellular microanatomy as an alternative of recreating the entire cell milieu that allows systematic analysis of medicinal absorption of compounds, metabolism, and mechanistic investigation. The OoC devices accurately represent human physiology in vitro; however, it is vital to choose the correct chip materials. The potential chip materials include inorganic, elastomeric, thermoplastic, natural, and hybrid materials. Despite the fact that polydimethylsiloxane is the most commonly utilized polymer for OoC and microphysiological systems, substitute materials have been continuously developed for its advanced applications. The evaluation of human physiological status can help to demonstrate using noninvasive OoC materials in real-time procedures. Therefore, this Review examines the materials used for fabricating OoC devices, the application-oriented pros and cons, possessions for device fabrication and biocompatibility, as well as their potential for downstream biochemical surface alteration and commercialization. The convergence of emerging approaches, such as advanced materials, artificial intelligence, machine learning, three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, and genomics, have the potential to perform OoC technology at next generation. Thus, OoC technologies provide easy and precise methodologies in cost-effective clinical monitoring and treatment using standardized protocols, at even personalized levels. Because of the inherent utilization of the integrated materials, employing the OoC with biomedical approaches will be a promising methodology in the healthcare industry.

Microfluidic Organ-on-A-chip: A Guide to Biomaterial Choice and Fabrication

“…These chambers and channels were fabricated by casting PDMS around a laser-cut PMMA mould [ 84 ]. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been recently considered a potential substitute because its fabrication is inexpensive and high-quality [ 93 ]. However, its low degradation rate and strength limits its application in chip fabrication [ 94 , 95 ].…”

“…This technique has also gained much attention in microfluidic domain, allowing scientists to engineer complex OoAC platforms that are difficult to design with traditional methods such as etching or moulding. This is an addictive manufacturing technique for the fabrication of 3D models, which means that the models are created by layers of materials added on top of one another [ 93 ]. The system primarily consists of a 3D printer, print materials, software, and on-demand manufacturing services.…”

“…Excellent precision, smooth surface resolution and watertight tolerances depending on printing types [ 93 , 159 ]…”

Digital manufacturing for accelerating organ-on-a-chip dissemination and electrochemical biosensing integration

“…There is no simple answer, but recent studies have discussed the whole spectrum of promising materials in detail. [34][35][36] Herein, we are going to focus on medical-grade adhesive tape, FFF thermoplastic filaments and SLA resins. These materials can be easily processed using microfabrication approaches that can be implemented in conventional laboratories for manufacturing cell culture compartments due to their simplicity, the small investment required, and their high throughput.…”

Exploring Microbial-Based Green Nanobiotechnology for Wastewater Remediation: A Sustainable Strategy

“…Thus, researchers have focused on microbes having bioremediation and bioconversion properties. Furthermore, lots of work such as bioreactor systems with the integration of NT, NPs entrapped catalytic membrane bioreactors, microbial fuel cells (MFCs), aerobic digesters, and nanofibrous matrix have been done in the past few years to significantly improve the efficiency of remediation of pollutants from the wastewater [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Overall, green NPs are a great alternative to the existing ways of NPs synthesis.…”