Biomat on microfluidic chip

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The treatment of patients will in the future be increasingly focused on 'personal regenerative medicine'. This is a new form of medicine in which doctors treat patients by creating new skin, bone or even an organ from cultured cells and biomaterials. This form of medicine generates great expectations in terms of innovative and personal care, but also has major challenges because it requires much high-quality knowledge and technology. Both Belgium and the Netherlands want to develop a knowledge economy to find answers to new challenges and at the same time to sustainably strengthen employment in the region. Platforms such as the Flemish RegMed and the Dutch Brightlands already support new developments within healthcare. To be able to test biomaterials on a large scale, a so-called 'organ-on-chip' offers new possibilities. These are small plates that mimic an organ or tissue and on which new biomaterials can be tested immediately in a physical environment. To develop this chip and prepare it for a broad introduction and use, a strong partnership is required consisting of both academic and industrial partners. 'Biomat' therefore creates a brand new microfluidic chip: the 'organ-on-chip 2.0'. This chip is seeded with stem cells to mimic a body's own organ or tissue, provided with supply and discharge of micro-fluid and sensitive sensors to perform measurements. The innovative aspect of this chip is the three-dimensional (3D) environment that is formed, in contrast to classic cell culture plates in which cells or tissues grow on a flat surface. Moreover, microfluidics - very small channels through which liquids are transported - mimic the transport of bodily fluids. To demonstrate the functionality of this revolutionary technology, examples will be constructed based on three types of clinical applications: bone, muscle and on-chip vascularized bone or muscle.

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