COVID-19<\/a> enters the body and does its damage, a team of top researchers from universities, hospitals and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) at the Centre for Research and Application in Fluidic Technologies, or CRAFT (a collaborative centre between the University of Toronto and the NRC), are adapting an approach developed by U of T\u2019s Milica Radisic, Axel Guenther and Edmond Young to create miniscule models of the nose, mouth, eyes and lungs.<\/p>\nThe focus will be on understanding why this virus is so effective at breaking through the body\u2019s natural defenders against viral and bacterial invaders, otherwise known as epithelial barriers. These barriers \u2013 created by epithelial cells that pack themselves tightly together \u2013 are present throughout our bodies. \u201cNormally, these epithelial barriers do a good job of helping us fight infections,\u201d says Radisic, who is a professor in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. But this virus has found a way to invade the barriers. That\u2019s our focus \u2013 why is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent years, Radisic\u2019s research has allowed her to make important progress in developing models of the heart on computer chips. The hearts \u2013 made from human cells \u2013 capture the key functions of an actual heart. That research, in turn, has been extremely effective in regenerating heart cells. Radisic has also used this organ-on-a-chip model to study how nanoparticles from air pollution damage our organs.<\/p>\n
Now, by creating mini-models of other human organs,the researchers can take a detailed view of just how COVID-19 is working. \u201cThis method allows us to study the problem without having to touch a human and potentially harm someone,\u201d says Radisic, who is also Canada Research Chair in Functional Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering. \u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of it. We can do our research early in the viral infection. You can\u2019t do that with a human, because once you know you have COVID-19, you\u2019ve been infected for two weeks. With organ-on-a-chip, we can study what happens within 24 hours of COVID-19 entering the body.\u201d<\/p>\n
A big part of the challenge with COVID-19 is that it\u2019s new and no one is immune. \u201cThere isn\u2019t anyone who has developed the T and B cells that are part of what we call \u2018adaptive immunity\u2019 \u2013 the cells you build up as you are exposed to diseases. We are all born with innate immunity. This works early when we are invaded with a virus. It finds things that don\u2019t belong in your body and tries to clean it up.\u201d Radisic says having a lung-on-a-chip will enable the team to study the innate early response of the immune system to COVID-19.<\/p>\n
Other CRAFT team researchers include Teodor Veres and his colleagues Daniel Brassard, Lidija Malic and Sue Twine from the NRC; Guenther and Young, both of U of T\u2019s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering; and Wolfgang Kuebler of the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, St. Michael\u2019s Hospital and surgery and physiology at U of T.<\/p>\n
The group will also experiment with the \u201cPowerblade,\u201d a technology the NRC in Montreal is using to test the blood of astronauts while on space missions. It will be repurposed by the research team to examine its potential for testing people with COVID-19 when they arrive at a hospital. \u201cOnce we figure out which molecules are biomarkers for a severe case of COVID-19, the Powerblade will be able to read that at point-of-care,\u201d Radisic says. \u201cThe health-care providers will then know how your innate immunity is reacting and if the virus will be severe or not. The problem with COVID-19 is that it works fast. You look good one minute and then, suddenly, you can be in real trouble. So getting earlier markers is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the models are built with commercially available cell lines to set the groundwork, the human cells for the organs-on-a-chip will be supplied by CRAFT members Tereza Martinu (respirology) and Ana Konvalinka (nephrology) of University Health Network and U of T\u2019s Faculty of Medicine. The live virus will be acquired from Karen Mossman, a researcher in pathology and molecular medicine at McMaster University. Mossman was involved in isolating the virus with U of T scientists Samira Mubareka and Robert Kozak, who are based at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. \u201cKaren has the live virus, so we will give her the chips and she will infect the organs in a special level three facility,\u201d Radisic says.<\/p>\n
Source:https:\/\/healthcare-in-europe.com\/en\/news\/organ-on-a-chip-model-to-find-out-how-covid-19-invades-our-bodies.html#<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[609],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-industrial-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10790"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10793,"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10790\/revisions\/10793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ljdevice.com.tw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/image-01-milica-radisic-201x200.jpg\")
<\/h5>\n