Marketplace Tech "Organs on a chip" help researchers better understand diseases like endometriosis
Sep 1, 2025
In this discussion, Linda Griffith, a bioengineer at MIT and director of the Center for Gynepathology Research, dives into revolutionary research on endometriosis using organs-on-chips technology. She explains how this innovative approach aids in creating patient-specific tissue models, enhancing our understanding of chronic inflammatory diseases. Griffith also tackles the intersection of hormones and the immune system, critiques current therapies, and advocates for deeper exploration into menstruation and hormone interactions, promising a future of precision medicine.
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Patient Tissue Recreated On Chips
- Organs-on-chips recreate patient tissue in microfluidic platforms for controlled lab study.
- Linda Griffith says this enables building lesion models from patient cells to study endometriosis precisely.
Limitations Of Animal Models
- Animal models miss key human immune and chronic inflammatory features of gynecologic diseases.
- Griffith emphasizes the need to build human patient models in the lab to capture disease-specific immunology.
What A Living Patient Avatar Is
- 'Living patient avatars' represent a patient's biology in a controllable experimental system.
- Griffith pairs lab models with systems biology to decide which patient features must be built into the avatar.