Chip R&D Service for Cancer Treatment
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US, and the high mortality and high incidence of this disease highlight the need for more effective treatments. Advances in tissue engineering have helped to develop functional, miniaturized human health or diseased organs called microphysiological systems (MPS). By using microfluidic technology, physiological correlations can be built into MPS to model the dynamic microenvironment and cell-cell interactions of complex tissues or organ systems.
In order to meet your challenging requirements, Alfa Chemistry has assembled a team of experienced scientists who can tailor the best strategies and plans for the research of microfluidic chips for tumor treatment. At present, we have completed many projects and developed a series of microfluidic chips in the field of tumor treatment.
Our Microphysiological Systems for Cancer Research
The ability to rapidly screen drugs and study disease mechanisms in a physiologically relevant context is essential to facilitate the clinical translation of preclinical research results. In order to overcome the limitations of current preclinical models, the research team of Alfa Chemistry is committed to constructing MPS with normal and pathological human tissue functions in vitro. We use advanced microfluidics and tissue engineering technologies to design physiological correlations into MPS to simulate the important functions of almost any human tissue or organ in the corresponding micro-scale configuration.
Usually, we use polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to manufacture microfluidic devices for biomedical purposes, which is a flexible, silicone-based polymer with biocompatibility, oxygen permeability, and optical transparency that allows continuous observation of tissue structure through a microscope to evaluate cell behavior and response to treatment in real-time.
Fig.1 PDMS microdevice fabrication. (a) Photopolymeric flexographic master mold (Fmold). (b,c) The epoxy resin is cast on the Fmold and cured at 25 ℃ (d,e) After 72 h the ERmold is peeled off to form the male mold. (f,g) The PDMS is cast on the ERmold and cured at 40 ℃ overnight. (h) The PDMS replica is peeled off. (i) The fluidic connection ports are punched and then the replica is irreversibly bonded to a glass wafer by plasma exposure. (Olmos C. M, et al. 2019)
Our current on-chip method mainly relies on combining pre-differentiated cells (in ECM or hydrogel that serves as a cell growth scaffold) in a specific ratio to mimic the natural tissue composition. These cells are usually fluorescently labeled, dye-labeled, or immunofluorescent stained to facilitate tracking through a fluorescent microscope.
Alfa Chemistry focuses on the development of microfluidic chips for cancer treatment. Our research projects include, but are not limited to, the following:
Advantage of Our Microfluidic Chips
Compared with other conventional technologies, the tissue model technology on microfluidic chips has many significant advantages, such as:
- They summarize the 3D organization and multicellular complexity of the tissue, and at the same time can enhance the dynamic control of the cellular microenvironment to adapt to systematic experimental interventions.
- The single-chip organ platform consists of only human cells and requires fewer cells and drugs than standard preclinical models.
- On-chip devices can carefully control cell growth in time and space to better simulate complex tissue structures and functions in micrometer-scale channels.
- Because the fluid in the microfluidic channel is laminar, it can be easily modeled mathematically to make theoretical predictions for complex biological phenomena.
Reference
- Olmos C. M, et al. (2019). "Epoxy Resin Mold and PDMS Microfluidic Devices Through Photopolymer Flexographic Printing Plate." Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 288: 742-748.
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