NYT SCIENCE: Scientists Have Designed a ‘Vagina on a Chip’
By Azeen Ghorayshi
Section: Science
Source: New York Times
Published Date: December 8, 2022 at 02:00AM
Over the past decade, Dr. Ingber, a bioengineer at Harvard, has made more than 15 of these organ chips, including those simulating lungs, livers, intestines and skin. And now, as described in a paper published last month, he has added a far less studied organ to the list: the vagina.
The “vagina on a chip” was made from vaginal cells donated by two women. The model was grown inside of silicone rubber chips the size of a stick of gum, forming channels that were responsive to fluctuating estrogen levels and bacteria. The chip successfully mimicked key features of the vaginal microbiome, the swarming communities of bacteria that play a crucial role in the organ’s health, the study found.
The chip is more realistic than other laboratory models of the organ, Dr. Ingber said: “This walks, talks, quacks like a human vagina.”
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By Azeen Ghorayshi
Section: Science
Source: New York Times
Published Date: December 8, 2022 at 02:00AM
A silicone chip lined with tissue from human donors could help scientists test drug treatments for bacterial infections in the vagina.
Dr. Don Ingber makes organs for a living. Using flexible pieces of silicone carved with tiny channels, he grows tissues that can mimic the complex physical interactions between cells and fluids, creating malleable, three-dimensional models of organs.Over the past decade, Dr. Ingber, a bioengineer at Harvard, has made more than 15 of these organ chips, including those simulating lungs, livers, intestines and skin. And now, as described in a paper published last month, he has added a far less studied organ to the list: the vagina.
The “vagina on a chip” was made from vaginal cells donated by two women. The model was grown inside of silicone rubber chips the size of a stick of gum, forming channels that were responsive to fluctuating estrogen levels and bacteria. The chip successfully mimicked key features of the vaginal microbiome, the swarming communities of bacteria that play a crucial role in the organ’s health, the study found.
The chip is more realistic than other laboratory models of the organ, Dr. Ingber said: “This walks, talks, quacks like a human vagina.”
Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/science/vagina-chip-bacterial-vaginosis.html?
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