Michael Shuler, Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Engineering, Cornell University; President & CEO, Hesperos, Inc.
Human microphysiological or "Body-on-a-Chip" systems are potentially powerful tools to assess both the potential efficacy and toxicity of drugs in pre-clinical studies. Having a human based, multiorgan system, that emulates key aspects of human physiology can provide important insights to complement animal studies in the decision about which drugs to move into clinical trials. Our human surrogates are constructed using a low cost, robust "pumpless" platform. We use this platform in conjunction with "functional" measurements of electrical and mechanical activity of tissue constructs (in collaboration with J. Hickman, University of Central Florida). Using a system with four or more organs we can predict the exchange of metabolites between organ compartments in response to various drugs, combintions of drugs and various dose levels. We will provide examples of using the system to both predict the response of a target tissue as well as off-target responses in other tissues/organs. We believe such models will allow improved predictions of human clinical response from preclinical studies.