Material-centric design of organ-on-a-chip systems: Towards industrial translation and mass manufacturing

Organs-on-chips (OoCs) are miniaturized devices for culturing and stimulating living cells within microscopic fluidic environments to create minimal organ surrogates. For the last decade, a diverse range of organ models were reconstructed at the micron scale to support the investigation of fundamental biological processes. By more accurately replicating the pathophysiology of human health, OoCs can serve as alternatives to conventional 2D cell culture and animal models for drug testing. However, moving from a research prototype to a commercially viable model system requires consideration of materials and manufacturing methods to simultaneously sustain high biological fidelity of organ mimicries, while enabling fabrication at scale. This review synthesizes recent advancements in that regard: We provide an overview of materials exhibiting relevant functional properties, their associated manufacturing methods, considerations of metrology and biocompatibility, and showcase representative examples of disruptive OoCs technologies currently integrated in the drug development pipeline to accelerate the discovery of safer and more effective therapeutics.