Model of a vessel-on-a-chip to test dynamic variables in physiological conditions

A Spanish biotech company developed a new vessel-on-a-chip with a range of angles and structures able to test the effect of vascular geometries related with differential wall shear stress and flow dynamics. The company looks for commercial agreement with technical assistance with academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies from biomedical field dedicated to deep vascular research, drug discovery, therapeutic target validation, etc. interested in advanced in vitro validation models.

Vascular system is relevant in the onset and severity of several highly prevalent diseases such as: - Diabetes - Cardiovascular diseases - Neurovascular diseases The endothelium (cell layer on the walls of the blood vessels) has a pivotal role in the regulation of these diseases. Endothelial cells (which form the endothelium) are a particular type of cell, which are under strong flow conditions. These strong conditions modulate the differentiation and the reaction of the endothelium to inflammatory stimuli. In this way, the traditional use of static 2D models were useful to develop and demonstrate several biological questions regarding endothelial cells and their role in diseases. However, these traditional assays are unable to address all the dynamic characteristics of in vivo vessels and the consequence of the different geometries in the disease development. A Spanish company has developed a vessel-on-a-chip, which is compatible with endothelial culture under continuous flow. This model can reproduce all the structural features of blood vessels with a wide range of angles and structures. The combination of primary cells culture and the different vascular geometries allow to test differential wall shear stress and flow dynamics in biological/disease processes. Apart from understanding the endothelial biology, it is possible to assay suspension cell culture in the chip, which together with the controlled flow and endothelial layer allow to develop advanced models of circulatory immune system and/or oncology. The new vessel-on-a-chip reproduces all vascular structural characteristics in a microfluidic chip, which allows to control and to evaluate the effect of these geometries and alterations on the endothelial biology and pharmacology. The company envisages to become a provider of vessel-on-a-chip for pharma companies, research laboratories and contract research organizations offering also a complete service helping to install the system and to solve technical issues by means of a cooperation agreement with technical assistance.