Dr. Edmond Young’s lab has developed a lung airway-on-a-chip, known as E-FLOAT, consisting of an airflow system combined with airway epithelial cells cultured in a biodegradable floating hydrogel. E-FLOAT enables the delivery of particulate matter to the live epithelial cells, which can then be extracted from the chip for further biochemical characterization. This system represents a promising in vitro platform to study the effect of air pollution on lung airway epithelial cells. 

E-FLOAT is described in an article recently published in Advanced Materials Technologies and was developed by Siwan Park (pictured below), a CRAFT Fellow and PhD candidate at the Institute of Biomedical Institute Engineering at the University of Toronto.

Read the full story here: https://discover.bme.utoronto.ca/new-microfluidic-device-could-become-a-useful-tool-to-examine-the-effect-of-pollutants-on-the-lung/

Publication: Park S and Young EWK. E-FLOAT: Extractable Floating Liquid Gel-Based Organ-on-a-Chip for Airway Tissue Modeling under Airflow. Advanced Materials Technologies. Oct 1 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202100828

Relevant Patent Application: US provisional patent (No. 64/241,884)

Contributed by Siwan Park.