Tissue Chip for Drug Screening

Many promising medications have failed to be safe and effective in human clinical trials despite promising preclinical studies. We are addressing this problem through the Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program. We coordinate with other NIH institutes and centers and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Tissue chips are built from human cells. Also called organs-on-chips, they mimic the structure and function of our heart, kidneys, lungs and other organ systems. Scientists are developing and using tissue chips to test the potential effects of drugs on those tissues in a faster and more effective way than current methods. Learn more about these projects.

With flexible funding from the Cures Acceleration Network, we focus on developing high-need cures and reducing major barriers between research discovery and clinical trials. Our Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program aims to speed the translation of basic discoveries into the clinic. By creating an integrated human body-on-a-chip, researchers will be able to test the possible effects of a drug or other substance across the entire body before testing in people.

Because they use human cells, tissue chips are also useful research tools to study human diseases and conditions when animal models do not mirror the pathology or are unavailable. They support NIH’s position that non-animal model approaches can reduce the need for animals in research but will require further improvement to completely replace them.