Organ-on-a-Chip: Engineered Microenvironments for Safety and Efficacy Testing contains chapters from world-leading researchers in the field of organ on a chip development and applications, with perspectives from life sciences, medicine, physiology and engineering. The book contains an overview of the field, with sections covering the major organ systems and currently available technologies, platforms and methods. As readers may also be interested in creating biochips, materials and engineering best practice, these topics are also described. Users will learn about the limitations of 2D in-vitro models and the available 3D in-vitro models (what benefits they offer and some examples). Finally, the MOC section shows how the organ on a chip technology can be adapted to improve the physiology of in-vitro models. - Includes case studies of other organs on a chip that have been developed and successfully used - Provides insights into functional microphysiological organ on a chip platforms for toxicity and efficacy testing, along with opportunities for translational medicine - Presented fields (PK/PD, physiology, medicine, safety) are given a definition followed by the challenges and potential of organs on a chip

Recent advances in microsystems technology and cell culture techniques have led to the development of organ-on-chip microdevices that produce tissue-level functionality, not possible with conventional culture models, by recapitulating natural tissue architecture and microenvironmental cues within microfluidic devices. Since the physiological microenvironments in living systems are mostly microfluidic in nature, the use of microfluidic devices facilitates engineering cellular microenvironments; the microfluidic devices allow for control of local chemical gradients and dynamic mechanical forces, which play important roles in cellular viability and function. The organ-on-chip microdevices have great potential to promote drug discovery and development, to model human physiology and disease, and to replace animal models for efficacy and toxicity testing. Recently, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have been leveraged to develop organs-on-chips, which enable various types of organ models and disease models not possible with primary cells and cell lines. This Special Issue seeks to showcase research papers, short communications, and review articles that focus on: (1) microdevices to mimic or control cellular microenvironment; (2) microdevices to evaluate interactions between different organ models; (3) microdevices to maintain iPS cells or iPSC-derived cells; and (4) sensors and techniques to evaluate drug efficacy or toxicity.

This book provides a collection of microphysiological systems employed for chemical/drug screening and strategies to mimic various physiological conditions. Chapters guide readers through Organ-on-a-Chip( OoC) platforms such as liver, intestine, blood-brain barrier, kidney, vessels, cardiac and skeletal muscles, articular joint, human fat. Additional chapters detail microfabrication technologies used to fabricate OoC devices such as, standard photo- and soft-lithography, techniques to fabricate membranes, and industrial-oriented fabrication methods.Written in the format of the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, each chapter includes an introduction to the topic, lists necessary materials and reagents, includes tips on troubleshooting and known pitfalls, and step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Organ-On-a Chip: Methods and Protocols aims to be a useful practical guide to researches to help further their study in this field.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks meets Get Out in this “startling…powerful” (Kirkus Reviews) investigation of racial inequality at the core of the heart transplant race. In 1968, Bruce Tucker, a black man, went into Virginia’s top research hospital with a head injury, only to have his heart taken out of his body and put into the chest of a white businessman. Now, in The Organ Thieves, Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist Chip Jones exposes the horrifying inequality surrounding Tucker’s death and how he was used as a human guinea pig without his family’s permission or knowledge. The circumstances surrounding his death reflect the long legacy of mistreating African Americans that began more than a century before with cadaver harvesting and worse. It culminated in efforts to win the heart transplant race in the late 1960s. Featuring years of research and fresh reporting, along with a foreword from social justice activist Ben Jealous, “this powerful book weaves together a medical mystery, a legal drama, and a sweeping history, its characters confronting unprecedented issues of life and death under the shadows of centuries of racial injustice” (Edward L. Ayers, author of The Promise of the New South).

The necessity of on-site, fast, sensitive, and cheap complex laboratory analysis, associated with the advances in the microfabrication technologies and the microfluidics, made it possible for the creation of the innovative device lab-on-a-chip (LOC), by which we would be able to scale a single or multiple laboratory processes down to a chip format. The present book is dedicated to the LOC devices from two points of view: LOC fabrication and LOC application.

Biomedical Applications of Microfluidic Devices introduces the subject of microfluidics and covers the basic principles of design and synthesis of actual microchannels. The book then explores how the devices are coupled to signal read-outs and calibrated, including applications of microfluidics in areas such as tissue engineering, organ-on-a-chip devices, pathogen identification, and drug/gene delivery. This book covers high-impact fields (microarrays, organ-on-a-chip, pathogen detection, cancer research, drug delivery systems, gene delivery, and tissue engineering) and shows how microfluidics is playing a key role in these areas, which are big drivers in biomedical engineering research. This book addresses the fundamental concepts and fabrication methods of microfluidic systems for those who want to start working in the area or who want to learn about the latest advances being made. The subjects covered are also an asset to companies working in this field that need to understand the current state-of-the-art. The book is ideal for courses on microfluidics, biosensors, drug targeting, and BioMEMs, and as a reference for PhD students. The book covers the emerging and most promising areas of biomedical applications of microfluidic devices in a single place and offers a vision of the future. - Covers basic principles and design of microfluidics devices - Explores biomedical applications to areas such as tissue engineering, organ-on-a-chip, pathogen identification, and drug and gene delivery - Includes chemical applications in organic and inorganic chemistry - Serves as an ideal text for courses on microfluidics, biosensors, drug targeting, and BioMEMs, as well as a reference for PhD students

Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm Change critically appraises current animal use in science and discusses ways in which we can contribute to a paradigm change towards human-biology based approaches.