Organ-on-a-chip

Organ-on-a-chip is a tiny machine that mimics the functions of an organ like the heart, lungs, or stomach inside of your body. It is made up of tiny pieces of plastic, which have tiny pathways carved into them, and some of these pathways contain living cells. By flowing a liquid through the pathways, the cells can be studied and tested in much the same way as they would be in your body. This lets researchers better understand how your organs work and how they might be affected by diseases or medicines. It also means they can test medicines on the machines instead of using animals.