Bone marrow-on-a-chip

Bone marrow-on-a-chip unveiled

May 6, 2014

[+]

Microscopic view of the engineered bone with an opening exposing the internal trabecular bony network, overlaid with colored images of blood cells and a supportive vascular network that fill the open spaces in the bone marrow-on-a-chip (credit: James Weaver/Harvard’s Wyss Institute)

A new organ-on-a-chip developed by researchers from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering reproduces the structure, functions, and cellular make-up of bone marrow, a complex tissue that until now could only be studied intact in living animals.

The device, dubbed “bone marrow-on-a-chip,” gives scientists a much-needed new tool to test the effects of new drugs and toxic agents on whole bone marrow.

Specifically, the device could be used to develop safe and effective strategies to prevent or treat radiation’s lethal effects on bone marrow without resorting to animal testing. The Institute is currently pursuing this challenge with funding support from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

The bone marrow-on-a-chip could also be used in the future to maintain a cancer patient’s own marrow temporarily while he or she underwent marrow-damaging treatments such as radiation therapy or high-dose chemotherapy./.../