The advent of organs on chips could dramatically accelerate drug development. But not every biological challenge can be solved by using a specific arrangement of cell cultures organized by a synthetic environment. Some cell cultures, like the cardiac cells that power the heart's all-important pumping action, require a more specialized approach.
This is where organoid on a chip technology comes in.
An organoid is a synthetic model that simulates the in vivo environment for a group of cells. An organoid on a chip provides this environment and buttresses it with useful experimental tools and automation built into a single platform. In the case of a cardiac organoid on a chip, embedded electrodes can read the electrical activity of the cell culture in three dimensions and report readings to researchers.
This electrode-enabled innovation, called an organ on an electronic chip, could revolutionize the study of cardiac electrophysiology, and bring lifesaving treatments to market much more quickly.