Book Description

Recent developments in microfluidics have demonstrated enormous potential of microscale cell culture for biology studies and recognized as instrumental in performing rapid and efficient experiments on small-sample volumes. Microfluidic-based cell culture is an area of research that keeps growing and gaining importance as a prominent technology, able to link scientific disciplines with industrial and clinical applications. In particular, organotypic cell culture and its integration in microfluidic devices would enable the realization of “in vivo-like” cell microenvironment within systems that are more amenable to automation and integration. Such remarkable advancement forms the foundation and motivation to transfer research from the laboratory to the field. Although the microfluidics and cell culture technologies have influenced many areas of science, significant research efforts are currently focus on finding methods to transform drug screening and toxicity testing from a system reliant on high-dose animal studies to one based primarily on human-relevant in vitro models. In line with regulatory developments precluding the use of animal testing, as well as fundamental differences in animal versus human, human in vitro methodologies are required to replace the animal-based testes while permitting physiologically relevant model equivalents for superior prediction. Organs-on-a-chip is an ambitious and rapidly growing technology that promise to bridge the gap between in vivo and in vitro studies and open wide possibilities in medical and industrial applications. However, many challenges are still ahead. This eBook present recent state-of-the-art works and critical reviews in organs-on-a-chip technology which highlight the new advances in this growing field with an emphasis on the interface between technological advancements and high impact applications.