ABSTRACT
Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Organs- and Tissues-on-Chips, organized
by Drs. Christopher P. Austin, Danilo Tagle, Christine L. Mummery and Brian R. Berridge. The conference will
be held April 8-12, 2018 at Big Sky Resort, Big Sky, Montana USA.
More than 30% of promising medications have failed in human clinical trials because they are found to be toxic
despite promising pre-clinical studies in two dimensional cell culture and animal models. Another 60% fail due
to lack of efficacy. Consequently, although several thousand diseases affect the human population, only about
500 have approved treatments. However, due to the growing understanding of human biology along with
increased availability of innovative technologies, there is now an unprecedented opportunity to translate scientific
discoveries more efficiently into new, more effective and safer health interventions. Organs- or Tissues-on-Chips
are innovative, alternative approaches that would enable early indications and potentially more reliable readouts
of toxicity and efficacy. These microfabricated devices recapitulate the multicellular architectures, tissue-tissue
interfaces, physicochemical microenvironments, vascular perfusion and innervation, producing in essence
microphysiological systems that mimic human tissue and organ functionality in ways that cannot be recapitulated
with conventional culture systems. Through innovative biosensing and readout approaches, these devices
employ high-resolution, real-time imaging and non-invasive analysis of biochemical, genetic and metabolic
activities of living cells in a functional tissue and organ context. This technology has great potential to advance
the study of tissue development, organ physiology and disease etiology. In the context of drug discovery and
development, it should be especially valuable for the study of molecular mechanisms of action, prioritization of
lead candidates, toxicity testing and biomarker identification. These microfabricated devices have also proven to
be useful for modeling human diseases. This conference will touch on ongoing efforts and various applications
of tissue-on-chips technology to studies in precision medicine, environmental exposures, reproduction and
development, cancer and for use at the International Space Station.