Organ on a chip

By S. Mathew

What are organs-on-chips?

The first Organ-an-a-Chip system was designed by Dan Huh and Shuichi Takamaya while trying to model excess fluid accumulation in the lungs. Donald Inger from the Wyss Institute at Harvard invited Huh to his lab and together they created the first Lung-Chip. With his team, Ingber created more than 15 Organ-on-a-Chip models and founded Emulate to commercialize the technology. Organ-Chips are flexible, USB-stick sized devices containing living human organ cells separated into specific upper and lower microfluidic channels. These sticks often contain cells from organs like the lung, liver, kidney, or intestine. Small channels carry fluids past the cells, mimicking blood flow, nutrient movement, and breathing motion.

What are the benefits of organ-on-a-chip technology?

Organ-on-a-Chip technology is currently being used for drug testing to ensure its safety before testing on animals or humans. Chips have been used to study disease progression, effects of drugs of certain drugs, and how infections affect organs. Chips can be linked together to model a system of organs and how they interact. Chips can also be built using a patient’s own cells, emerging as a major improvement in precision medicine.

What are the policies surrounding organ-on-chip technology?

In July of 2026, the FDA Modernization Act 3.0 was passed, requiring the FDA to replace references to “animal” testing to “nonclinical” testing. In 2025 the FDA released their Roadmap to Reduce Animal Testing In Preclinical Safety Studies, which outlines a plan to replace animal testing with NAMs (new approach methods), including organ-on-chip technologies in the variety of alternatives they highlighted.