http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn9Q4c3dXGU.
Post a PCRC on the Blog
The instructions are on the right side of the blog. You need five entries
0. What I already knew (0. Knew: ...)
1. What I Learned (1. Learned: ...)
2. Most pressing questions? (2.
Pressing ?: ...)
3. Presentation topic (3.
Presentation: ...)
4. Thoughts on class or systems
biology, etc. (4. Thoughts: ...)
James Pino
ReplyDeleteAsgn_1A
0. Knew: I didn't know much to organs on a chip (OOAC).
1.Learned: The problems with global health care( too costly, progress takes too long, often fails) and the use of organs on a chip and how they can make progress ( seem to be better than cells in dishes and animal models).
2. Pressing ?: How many variables are able to be recreated in OOAC? I am new to this and have heard it discussed often, but I don't know how realistic they can become to recreate the physics of a living system.
3. Presentation: Discussed need, current standing, and future goals of OOAC.
4.Thoughts: I am excited for this class and getting more perspectives on systems biology.
Chuck Herring
ReplyDelete1A/TEDx Hamilton
0. Knew: The significance and research capabilities of organ on a chip.
1. Learned: The functionality of the chip. For example, I did not know that capillary cells were also present in the lung model.
2. Pressing: Exactly how revolutionary will the chip be? No hard proof was offered for its usefulness in the problems presented, only its potential was presented.
3. Presentation: How organs on a chip could be utilized to transform the way we investigate medical science, specifically how it may change drug development.
4. Thoughts: A very cool model, that could be very revolutionary if its promises are fulfilled.
Cameron Togrye
ReplyDelete1A/TEDx Hamilton
0.Knew: Basic details about the organ on a chip and the some of the applications it has.
1. Learned: Organs on a chip could potentially be used to add variety to the currently homogeneous state of clinical trials by creating human on a chip environments specific to certain age groups or ethnicity.
2. Pressing: Does the semi-permeable membrane that separates the cell layers on the organ on a chip truly mimic the the interface in the lung? What about things like gap junctions or tight junctions?
3. Presentation: Organs on chips and their role in the evolution of drug trials
4. Thoughts: I think humans on chips has the potential to eliminate a number of the morally dubious aspects of current procedure for drug testing.
Kate Jones
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1A/ TEDx Hamilton
0. Knew: I have taken a class involving microfluidics and cells, so I knew the basic concept and uses for these organs on chips.
1. Learned: I liked that she went through the physical structure and purpose of each section of the chip. For example, I knew the basic principle of the microfluidic device and cell traps but learned that the cells sit on a porous membrane as the capillary cells provide a blood supply on one side of the membrane and the introduced materials flow over the top of the cells on the other side of the membrane.
2. Pressing ?: Something the presenter briefly touched on was the personalization of organs on chips. I wanted to know whether the design would likely be adapted to at-home labs on chips for anticipating future disease, drug testing for adverse reactions, or genetic testing. I would also want to know how researchers intend to include the potential cellular products and reactions of cells we don't yet know of or do not fully understand.
3. Presentation: I think that an interesting topic for discussion would be the end goal of these organs on chips as far as widespread availability, cost, and future applications.
4. Thoughts: I am hoping that this class further develops my interest in organs on chips and introduces me to other aspects of systems biology. I would also be interested in learning more about the impact of organs on chips and the organs currently in development.
Mark Vander Roest
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1A - TEDx Hamilton
0. Knew: Shortcomings of current drug development strategy and the role organs on chips could play in addressing these shortcomings.
1. Learned: The current state of integrative technologies that combine multiple chips is more advanced than I initially assumed. Specifically the device mentioned at 13:40 was something I was not aware was in development.
2. Pressing: Do these individual chips or combinations of multiple chips come anywhere close to replicating the complexity of human systems biology? Though multi-organ drug testing seems more practical in these systems, can they recapitulate any of the organ "communication" mentioned in the other video?
3. Presentation: The need, current state of the field, and future research directions for organs on chips and how they stand to benefit medical discovery and drug development.
4. Thoughts: They seem cool and certainly have their place in the research field, but I'm skeptical that they will be more effective predictors of drug interactions than animal trials, and very doubtful that they could compete with human clinical trials.
Juan Gnecco
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1A/ TEDx Hamilton
0. Knew: The fabrication and potential of organ-on-chips as a model for a better physiological model. Specifically the lung-on-a-chip. Also I knew the current demand for new models for drug and toxicity testing.
1. Learned: The wide range of chips being developed and have been fabricated. Also the pursuit of industry production of these chips.
2. Pressing: some of the most pressing questions include the ability to personalize these chips using iPSC from each individual and the possibility and difficulty in making an intergrated human on chips.
3. Presentation: The capabilities and direction these microfluidics devices play as a better model for drug development and toxicology.
4. I am always impressed at the development of the lung-on-a-chip and am interested in the future.they look at the big picture, but hopefully in this class we can learn and eventually overcome the challenges that result from the fabrication of these chips.
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ReplyDeleteNate Braman
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1A/ TEDx Hamilton
0. Knew: The potential of OoCs as cheaper, more physiologically relevant drug development platforms and personalized medicine tools. A little bit about some of the Wyss OoCs, such as their heart and gut devices.
1. Learned: The specifics of the Lung-on-a-Chip, specifically the use of vacuum chambers on either side of the lung interface membrane to simulate the mechanical forces of respiration. The existence of the skin-on-a-chip device.
2. Pressing ?: How is the Lung-on-a-Chip fabricated? Specifically how is the porous lung interface membranes fabricated? Why are its pores pentagonal and what advantage might that shape have? What are the practical limitations of utilizing OoCs for personalized healthcare? Will care providers have to obtain and seed a patient's stem cells within devices themselves, and how can this process be simplified as OoCs are mass produced?
3. Presentation: An overview of organs-on-chips, their importance, and their application, with an in-depth look at the lung-on-a-chip device.
4. Thoughts: OoCs have great potential across a wide range of applications. I think that we may see them put to use increasingly in drug development very soon, as OoCs offer both a simpler/more cost effective testing platform and improvements in areas currently lacking in animal and traditional in vitro models.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCami Johnson
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1A: TEDx Hamilton
0. Knew: I've done some microfluidics before, so I knew the general concepts behind fabricating an organ-on-a-chip, and that it would likely be a better model for drug testing than animal models.
1. Learned: Some traits particular to certain populations can alter the effect of drugs, and organs- and humans-on-a-chip can be personalized than other testing models.
2. Pressing ?: Each organ-on-a-chip is reduced to the components most relevant to drug delivery, but does that simplification reduce the accuracy of the model compared to animal testing? How long before this is a viable system for use? Would personalized humans-on-a-chip be incredibly expensive?
3. Presentation: The presentation discussed the basic concepts of organs-on-a-chip and why it is a necessary development for effective drug testing. It also presented examples of some currently functioning organs-on-a-chip, specifically a lung-on-a-chip.
4. Thoughts: I think organs- and humans-on-a-chip have a great potential to be a more accurate model than animal testing. I think it's the future of drug testing, and I hope in this class to learn more about the advances made in the field.
0. Knew: ‘Body on a chip’ technology was being researched as a way to better model the human body in a laboratory environment.
ReplyDelete1. Learned: the extent of possible applications of body on a chip technology, from modeling the immune response to testing human skin’s reaction to cosmetics. I also learned about the actual structure of a chip itself, and the way in which microfluidics and vacuum channels are used to model the dynamic in vivo cell environment.
2. Pressing ?: What are the ways in which researchers gain quantitative information from body on a chip systems, and in what ways are these methods limited? Also what is the timeframe between harvesting cells for an organ on a chip and receiving the results of modeled drug testing using that chip? If this time frame is too long it does not seem practical to use organs on a chip to predict individual’s responses to a specific drug, as by the time we know the drug is safe to use it is already too late for the patient.
3. Presentation: The rationale behind developing organ on a chip technology, potential applications thereof, specifically linking several organs together to form a ‘body on a chip’ which can be used to easily test human responses to various drugs.
4. Thoughts: This technology seems like a very clever, efficient and affordable way to more accurately predict the human body’s response to drugs, and could possibly highly streamline the drug testing process, which is currently far too expensive and time consuming.
Arman Chowdhury
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1A: TEDx Hamilton
0. Knew: The way we currently develop new drugs is too costly, takes too long, and it fails more often than it succeeds. The two tools that we now use for testing drugs are: cells in dishes, and animal testing.
1. Learned: The tools that we have today that test the efficacy of drugs are failing us. We need human cells for testing outside the human body, but we need to be able to mimic the extracellular environment native to the cells. Our cells are in a dynamic environment and experience constant mechanical forces. On a chip, researchers are trying to create the smallest functional unit that represents the biochemistry, the function, and the mechanical strain that the cells experience in our bodies. Pipeline of different organ chips include: liver, gut, lungs, heart, bone marrow. Combine chips to create human-on-a-chip. Dynamic response of the body to a drug can be explored using human-on-a-chip. Application of cosmetics, regular household cleaners, bioterrorism, and radiation exposure can all be explored using this technology.
2. Pressing ?: Can organs on a chip mimic the structural properties of organs as well as functional properties? Can organs on a chip accurately incorporate extracelluar biological agents native to the cells, and incorporate properties like temperature difference, pH difference and pressure difference?
3. Presentation: Discussed inefficiency of current model of drug development. Presented organs on a chip to be the solution. Demonstrated the study of immunological response due to bacterial infection on a lung-on-a-chip to emphasize the scope of organs-on-a-chip. Argued that organs-on-a-chip can ultimately be used for personalized medicine.
4. Thoughts: Organs on a chip seem to be a more time and cost efficient solution for studying diseases and drug development. I was especially drawn to the prospect of personalized medicine using this technology, and I am eager to learn more from this class.
Shuaipeng "Jimmy" Zhang
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1A: Tedx Hamilton
0. Knew: The current methods of drug development and marketing are far too expensive and time consuming.
1. Learned: I was not familiar with Organs on a Chip before this Ted Talk. I learned about the design of the Lung on a chip; with the porous membrane, vacuums, and the air and blood channels. The inter-connectivity of the chips was also interesting, and allows for a basic replica of the human biological system to be built. The idea of the "personalized chip" introduced by the speaker at the end was also innovative.
2. Pressing: The biggest concern I have with this technology is how accurately the chips can represent the human body. For example, the body has an extraordinary homeostatic control system which constantly adjusts values such as pH and temperature. The constant variations in these values are a major characteristic of the body, and the talk did not seem to address this issue. This is simply one example, there are many other variables in the body environment which would have to be incorporated in order for the chip to provide a very accurate representation of the organ.
3. Presentation: The speaker provided a prelude to her introduction on Organs on chips by explaining the current costly dilemma with drug development. The basic functions of the chip were then presented, followed by models which have already been created. The potential of the chip in healthcare (personalized chips) and medical research was then discussed.
4. Thoughts: Organs on a chip is a very interesting idea which can potentially revolutionize the medical field and healthcare. It is definitely a more cost efficient alternative for drug research and development, in addition to yielding potentially better results. The idea of truly personalized healthcare was also appealing.
Tim Lee
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1A/ TEDx Hamilton
0. Knew: Inadequacy of testing models for drugs and the basic principles the organ on a chip present to provide better testing models for humans.
1. Learned: The variety of different organs that can be represented with the chips and the ability to test them in conjunction with other chips to represent multiple systems. The different markets this product can potentially affect.
2. Pressing: The organ on a chip project is limited to our collective knowledge about our body's dynamic environment. How do we know with certainty that the effects on the chip will translate directly to the effects on a real human being? What can we do to address some of the unforeseen incongruities between the chip and the body?
3. Presentation: The potential for microfluidic devices to progress a number of different markets as well as perfect the testing model for drugs in development. Future directions towards personalized medicine was also hinted at.
4. Thoughts: I am usually skeptical about any new project that seems to have no ceiling on its potential, but I am excited to learn more about how this project can help us better understand the human body and its dynamic environment. I look forward to witnessing the progression of medicine this project will be able to provide in the future.
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ReplyDeleteKatelyn Flint
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1A: Tedx Hamilton
0. Knew: I knew that tests using cells in petri dishes and animal models do not give a complete model of how the human body will respond to drugs / chemicals and that better models are being developed.
1. Learned: An example of how an organ on a chip is designed. I did not know anything about what an organ on a chip looked like before, but in this talk, Dr. Hamilton showed a simplified version of how a lung on a chip is designed and how vacuum chambers on the sides allow the shells to be stretched and compressed. She also discussed the many products that could benefit from this technology – from cancer drugs to lipstick.
2. Pressing ?: Has the organ on a chip idea been implemented by pharmaceutical companies yet? How do researchers test how well an organ on a chip represents the actual organ?
3. Presentation: “Your body in a microchip” was an introduction to organ on a chip technology and why it is in an important innovation.
4. Thoughts: I thought this was a very interesting talk and a great introduction to this technology. I am interested in the diverse applications and the potential for personalized treatment. Individuals sometimes respond differently to drugs and being able to test the effects on your cells before you actually take the medicine would be very beneficial.