• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Lifestyle Health

‘Petri dish for the 21st Century’ to revolutionise disease research

The three-dimensional ‘organ on a chip' was developed in research led by Cambridge University scientists

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2018-10-26 19:59
in Health, News, Science
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

A petri dish for the 21st Century has been developed which promises to revolutionise research into diseases.

Traditionally, biological studies were and still are done in petri dishes, where specific types of cells are grown on a flat surface.

They have helped many of the medical advances made since the 1950s, including the polio vaccine, have originated in petri dishes.

Yet these two-dimensional environments do not accurately represent the native three-dimensional environments of human cells, and can in fact lead to misleading information and failures of drugs in clinical trials.

So scientists at the University of Cambridge and colleagues from France, Greece and Saudi Arabia developed a three-dimensional ‘organ on a chip.’

This will enables real-time continuous monitoring of cells, and could be used to develop new treatments for disease while reducing the number of animals used in research.

The device which looks like a plumbing switch valve incorporates cells inside a 3D transistor made from a soft sponge-like material inspired by native tissue structure, gives scientists the ability to study cells and tissues in new ways.

By enabling cells to grow in three dimensions, the device more accurately mimics the way that cells grow in the body.

RelatedPosts

Wetherspoons forced to overhaul breakfast menu due to supply shortages

Nearly half of specialist doctors in England and Wales born outside UK

Tory MP says expansion of free childcare is wrong policy

Labour calls on Tory MPs to vote against pensions tax cut

It could also be modified to generate multiple types of organs – a liver on a chip or a heart on a chip, for example – ultimately leading to a body on a chip which would simulate how various treatments affect the body as whole.

Senior author Fellow and College Lecturer Dr Róisín Owens from Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology said: “Two-dimensional cell models have served the scientific community well, but we now need to move to three-dimensional cell models in order to develop the next generation of therapies.”

First author postdoctoral researcher Dr Charalampos Pitsalidis added: “Three-dimensional cell cultures can help us identify new treatments and know which ones to avoid, if we can accurately monitor them.”

3D cell and tissue cultures are an emerging field of biomedical research, enabling scientists to study the physiology of human organs and tissues in ways that have not been possible before.

While these 3D cultures can be generated, technology that accurately assesses their functionality in real time has not been well-developed.

Dr Owens explained: “The majority of the cells in our body communicate with each other by electrical signals, so in order to monitor cell cultures in the lab, we need to attach electrodes to them.

“However, electrodes are pretty clunky and difficult to attach to cell cultures, so we decided to turn the whole thing on its head and put the cells inside the electrode.”

The device is based on a ‘scaffold’ of a conducting polymer sponge, configured into an electrochemical transistor.

The cells are grown within the scaffold and the entire device is then placed inside a plastic tube through which the necessary nutrients for the cells can flow.

The use of the soft, sponge electrode instead of a traditional rigid metal electrode provides a more natural environment for cells, and is key to the success of organ on chip technology in predicting the response of an organ to different stimuli.

Other organ on a chip devices need to be completely taken apart in order to monitor the function of the cells, but since the Cambridge-led design allows for real-time continuous monitoring, it is possible to carry out longer-term experiments on the effects of various diseases and potential treatments.

Dr Pitsalidis concluded: “With this system, we can monitor the growth of the tissue, and its health in response to external drugs or toxins

“Apart from toxicology testing, we can also induce a particular disease in the tissue, and study the key mechanisms involved in that disease or discover the right treatments.”

The study was published in the journal Science Advances, and researchers have filed a patent for the device in France.

ENDS

Content Protection by DMCA.com

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending

Elevenses: Exposing the Tories’ Deepfake Illegal Immigration Bill

Elevenses: Rishi’s Finest Hour

Elevenses: Fear and Loathing in the New Conservatives

More from TLE

Migrants feared dead after boat sinks off French coast

Astonished reactions as Suella Braverman bans lawyers from telling ministers their policies are unlawful

Boris Johnson’s brother locked in planning row with neighbour

Pogba must give everything for team, insists Manchester United legend

Lucky Numbers and Horoscopes for today 14 March 2023

Professor sacked from the Royal Academy of Music after students complained she called violinists “gypos”

Single family rooms that enable parents to stay with premature babies slash serious infections

Lavish 3 course meal at MPs’ restaurant cheaper than Christmas Day lunch at Toby Carvery

How to Make: Chinese Chicken Dumplings

Laurence Fox and Richard Tice to open a pub serving ‘only British food’

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.