On Oct. 13, 2016, NCATS announced approximately $6 million in new awards for fiscal year 2016 to establish three Tissue Chip Testing Centers (TCTCs). These centers provided a way to test and validate tissue chip platforms developed through the Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program. Investigators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Texas A&M University conducted the independent validation of tissue chip platforms, and the University of Pittsburgh set up a tissue chip database for each organ platform.

Texas A&M University, College Station

TEX-VAL: Texas A&M Tissue Chip Validation Center

Principal Investigator: Ivan Rusyn, M.D., Ph.D.      
Grant Number: 1-U24TR001950-01

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Translational Center of Tissue Chip Technologies for Quantitative Characterization of Microphysiological Systems

Principal Investigators: Murat Cirit, Ph.D., and Alan J. Grodzinsky, Sc.D.      
Grant Number: 1-U24-TR001951-01

University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh Microphysiological Systems Testing Database Center

Principal Investigator: Mark E. Schurdak, Ph.D.      
Grant Number: 1-U24-TR001935-01