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Author Spotlight: Developing Immunocompetent Organ-on-Chip Models for Infectious Disease Research
Published on: May 24, 2024
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Organ-on-chip models for infectious disease research
Raquel Alonso-Roman1,2, Alexander S Mosig2,3,4, Marc Thilo Figge2,5,6
1Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans-Knöll-Institute (Leibniz-HKI), Jena, Germany.
Nature Microbiology
|March 26, 2024
Summary
Organ-on-chip (OoC) technologies offer advanced humanized in vitro models for studying microbial pathogens. These microfluidic systems provide physiologically relevant environments, enhancing infectious disease research beyond traditional methods.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology and Bioengineering
- Infectious Disease Research
- Organ-on-Chip Technology
Background:
- Traditional research on microbial pathogens relies on animal and cell culture models.
- These models have limitations in mimicking complex host infection processes.
- Recent advancements in microfluidics and bioengineering have introduced organ-on-chip (OoC) technologies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review various organ-on-chip (OoC) models.
- To explore their applications in infectious disease research.
- To discuss the properties, limitations, and future prospects of OoCs in microbiology.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on organ-on-chip models for infectious diseases.
- Analysis of OoC properties relevant to mimicking host-pathogen interactions.
- Discussion of integration with immune cells and dynamic microenvironments.
Main Results:
- Organ-on-chip models offer more physiologically relevant and humanized in vitro systems.
- Key valuable properties include dynamic microenvironments, vascularization, and near-physiological tissue constitution.
- Partial integration of functional immune cells enhances their utility.
Conclusions:
- Organ-on-chip technologies represent a significant advancement for infectious disease research.
- They provide superior in vitro models compared to traditional methods.
- OoCs hold substantial potential for future microbiology and host-pathogen interaction studies.
