Shaping and Controlling Organ on Chips models

Principal Investigator and Contact : Stéphanie Descroix, Stephanie.Descroix@curie.fr

Bioengineering models that faithfully recapitulate in vitro organ features remains a challenging task; it is however needed in several fields: first to provide damaged tissue replacements for regenerative medicine, but also for drug assessments and advanced biological and biophysical investigations. Since its inception, 3D bioengineering has made significant progress towards the goal of functional tissue production notably thanks to organ on chip technology. However, many efforts must still be made to properly differentiate cells and promote faithful tissue development and organization in microphysiological systems. This is particularly linked to the need to recapitulate both the 3D organ structure, the intercellular organization, and the mechanical stimulation experienced in vivo, in order to finally promote a functional tissue.

We have recently demonstrated our ability to develop original and relevant organ on chip models. Building on this know-how along with our expertise in magnetic cellular material we aim now at initiating a novel research methodology in the field of 3D bioengineering with a tuned balance between structural and magnetic cellular and extracellular components.