Development of a Body-on-a-Chip Using 3-D Microstructuring Technique

Abstract

IN vitro cell-based assay with human cells is getting attention since the accuracy of preclinical predictions of drug responses should be improved to reducing costly failures in clinical trials. In order to generate reliable predictions, we present a micro-engineered biomimetic systems "Body-on-a-Chip", to investigate the effects of drugs/metabolites on various organs by assembling a closed-loop medium circulation system on one microfluidic device. For three-dimensional (3-D) polymeric device fabrication, an advanced 3-D lithography with the process optimization method is applied to improve the current soft-lithography technique. Our Body-on-a-Chip is successfully applied to evaluate the effect of an anti-cancer drug (doxorubicin) on cell survival of human heart and liver cells.