Liverchip

"Liver on a chip" will help assess the safety of CRISPR

Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+

Gene editing technology is becoming an increasingly important medical tool, but many experts fear the unintended consequences of using CRISPR – for example, unforeseen mutations and the development of cancer. To ensure the safety of the technique, it must be thoroughly tested on artificial organoids.

Ethics rules restrict the testing of poorly studied technologies and drugs on humans, so scientists have to look for an alternative – for example, the so-called "organs on a chip". This approach can be more effective and informative than traditional testing on experimental animals and cell cultures.

Specialists from Arizona State University has created a Liverchip platform – "liver on a chip", which will allow CRISPR to be tested for safety. The system is a three-dimensional cellular structure developed taking into account the structure of a real human liver. With the help of Liverchip, it will be possible to identify biomarkers of toxicity, as well as signs of undesirable mutations.

The ultimate goal of the researchers is to create a system that will accurately predict the reaction of the liver to a certain treatment. In addition, they hope to develop safe and accurate methods of using CRISPR to treat diseases of this organ.

Experts highly appreciated the work of the team. The project, launched in January 2018, recently received a five-year grant of $2,600,000 from the National Institutes of Health Foundation (USA). 

Researchers from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has set themselves a much more ambitious task: the creation of an entire "organism on a chip". The system they developed will allow us to study how drugs affect 12 human organs and tissues at once, including the lungs, heart and brain.

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