Researchers at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed “lung-on-a-chip” technology that mimics the effects of pulmonary edema, a medical condition caused by fluid build up in the lung’s air sacs.
The engineered organ-on-a-microchip technology – along with the presence of cultured living human cells, mirrors the effects of the condition including human oxygen transport, fluid barrier functions, compound production which enables air sacs to open and close and airborne particulate absorption and inflammatory responses to bacteria and toxins, according to Geraldine Hamilton, Ph.D. and lead scientist at Wyss.
via Mass High Tech
November 26, 2012
