Approximately 30% of drugs have failed in human clinical trials due to adverse reactions despite promising pre-clinical studies, and another 60% fail due to lack of efficacy. The NIH Tissue Chips program is developing alternative approaches for more reliable readouts of toxicity or efficacy during drug development. Tissue chips are bioengineered microphysiological systems utilizing chip technology and microfluidics that mimic tissue cytoarchitecture and functional units of human organs. These microfabricated devices are useful for modeling human diseases, and for studies in precision medicine and environment exposures.

Learning Objectives:

1. Overview of the NIH Tissue Chips or Microphysiological Systems program as predictive tools for safety and efficacy studies
2. Learn about diversity of various platforms being used and future initiatives using this technology