Multi-Organ and Multi-Sensor on-Chip for Diabetology – DIAMOCHIP

Physiological processes and chronic disorders often imply multi-organ crosstalk. Disease modelling and novel therapies (drugs, stem cells) currently require: (i) animal studies, in a context of their reduction by the EU and with limited applicability to humans; (ii) and costly clinical trials without in situ analysis.

Multi-Organ-On-a-Chip (MOOC) systems shall bridge the gap between these approaches, although the current main challenges are: combining multiple organs, microfluidic loops, embedded online sensors for long-term monitoring, and the application of physiologically/pathologically relevant scenarii.

Nutrient homeostasis is a complex vital multi-organ process and its deregulations often lead to diabetes (>5% of the population, 90% with type 2 diabetes).
DIAMOCHIP associates cutting edge expertise of 3 academic groups and 1 French company to: (i) build the first four-organ & multisensor-on-a-chip device (pancreatic islets, liver, muscles, adipocytes) for fundamental and applied research in diabetology, (ii) and validate it in in vitro and in silico in physiological and pathophysiological relevant conditions.

Partners already collaborate and are well recognized for microorgan electrophysiology in diabetes research (Raoux, CBMN, Bordeaux), microfluidic organ-on-chips (Charlot, IES, Montpellier), microelectronics, real-time biosignal processing and in silico modelling in diabetology (Renaud, IMS, Bordeaux), and sensor technologies and business development in health sciences (Tamda, Tecnalia France, Bordeaux).

The project contains 4 Work Packages to provide the final DIAMOCHIP device:
1) Integrated microfluidic chip with sensors (IES-Tecnalia);
2) Hardware integration and instrumentation (IMS);
3) Microorgans coculture and scaling in microfluidics (CBMN);
4) DIAMOCHIP physiological, pathophysiological and in silico validation, and market access (all partners).

DIAMOCHIP will provide (i) major new knowledge on inter-organ cross-talk in nutrient homeostasis, (ii) a remarkable tool for diabetes modelling, (iii) and a biomedical device for screening and for stem cell-based approaches dedicated to personalized medicine.

DIAMOCHIP will have a large impact in the field organs-on-chips, by advancing the state-of-the-art as it addresses not only multi-organs but a higher physiological function, i.e. nutrient homeostasis, and a multi-organ disease, diabetes.

The organs-on-chip market is strongly growing driven by academia-industry interactions and strong public investment. Current solutions are often single organ and with one exception devoid of online sensing. DIAMOCHIP may provide a powerful, efficient and cost-effective platform to address a number of clinical research issues not feasible in man with a significant implication in understanding and treating diabetes. Devices and components developed in this project may be of considerable interest to a number of companies.