Ein biologisches Lungenmodell mit Forschungspotenzial

Standard in vitro models fail to reproduce the complex cellular microenvironment of the human lung, whereas lung animal models poorly predict drug response in humans. A powerful alternative to model various aspects of the air-blood barrier is lung-on-chips using a thin and porous polymeric membrane. Researchers from the University of Bern have developed a new generation lung-on-chip that mimics an array of alveoli based on a biological membrane, on which patient cells are cultured, opening new potentials for lung research, drug screening and personalized medicine.