Health and Medicine Research

eMerge Americas Revisited: Organ on a chip

Imagine simulating diabetes, lung cancer, or heart disease on a device no larger than a credit card.

In a revolutionary new approach, University of Miami researchers are combining traditional engineering structures and materials, like metal or plastic, with stem cells from rodents and humans to create organs on a chip—model systems that mimic how human organs function, both normally and when diseased. By re-creating functional models of human physiology and pathophysiology, researchers from the University’s College of Engineering and Miller School of Medicine, along with industry partners, are testing novel therapies and uncovering the biological mechanisms of human disease. 

This video was featured at the eMerge Americas technology conference held in April at the Miami Beach Convention Center.