UW researchers to help develop chips of living cells

[Bill Peckham]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2018763092_tissuechip25m.html

UW researchers to help develop chips of living cells

Researchers around the country and at the University of Washington will soon grow tissue cells
inside three-dimensional chips, in hopes of simulating organs for drug testing, a revolutionary
project aimed at taking humans out of early phases of clinical trials.

By Kibkabe Araya
Seattle Times staff reporter

Researchers around the country will soon begin to grow tissue cells inside three-dimensional
chips, in hopes of mimicking any organ for drug testing, a revolutionary project aimed at taking
humans out of the early phases of clinical trials.

A team of Seattle researchers will use the chips to simulate the kidney, an organ often susceptible
to harm from drugs. So instead of using real human kidneys, they will grow a kidney model to see
firsthand — without affecting people — the damage from a tested drug.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a part of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), announced Tuesday the recipients of the 2012 Tissue Chip Project
Awards. The University of Washington is one of 17 research facilities to win the opportunity to
test the new technology.

The UW is the only institution to study the kidney; other facilities, including Harvard University
and MIT, will focus on organs like the heart and liver.

Researchers at the UW, including nephrologists, physicians, bioengineers, pharmacists and
environmental-health researchers, plan to insert donated kidney cells from transplants or other
procedures into the manufactured chip. Inside the silicone and glass chip, measuring 2 inches by
1.5 inches, chambers and channels give the architecture for the cells to simulate a human kidney.

"Most researchers usually grow it on surfaces like the Petri dish," said Dr. Thomas Neumann, CEO
of Nortis, the chip provider and new company started by former UW faculty members. "We have
to make it so the device is not attached to anything, so cells can behave like they do in the human
body."

Collagen will help support the structure, and growth-hormone fluid will stimulate cell
multiplication.

For a drug to be tested, the goal is for the simulated kidney to absorb the drug, show any adverse
effects, and remove the toxins like a real kidney.

"Think of the chip as a scaffold," said Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb, director at the Kidney Research
Institute at the UW. "The device allows nutrients to go in and gets rid of waste, so it's a
sophisticated device to allow us to do that. It will be a big challenge. It's one of the most complex
organs in the human body."

[Bill Peckham]

I think this will be an important advance that will get clinical innovations into practice faster. The Kidney Research is being done through the Kidney Research Institute here in Seattle. The KRI is a partnership between Northwest Kidney Centers and UW School of Medicine - the wish was that by creating the KRI people with kidney disease would see research that improves their care and reduces the disease burden they experience, I think that wish is being fulfilled.

[MooseMom]

This is just a fascinating read!  Amazing!