In October 2016, NCATS announced a funding opportunity as part of the Tissue Chips for Disease Modeling and Efficacy Testing initiative to support further development of tissue chip models of human disease that mimic the pathology in major human organs and tissues.

In September 2017, NCATS and its NIH collaborators funded an estimated $15 million in fiscal year 2017 to fund 13 awards for the Tissue Chips for Disease Modeling and Efficacy Testing initiative. In February 2018, NCATS made an additional award. All awarded projects are milestone-driven and quantifiable. Learn more in RFA-TR-16-017.

In September 2018, NCATS contributed support to three projects that were awarded by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) as part of RFA-DK-17-035, "Microphysiological Systems (MPS) for Modeling Diabetes (MPS-MOD)."

In 2019, NCATS contributed support to four projects that were awarded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and NCATS funded four research projects as part of PAR-19-138, “ImmuneChip: Engineering Microphysiological Immune Tissue Platforms” focused on developing tissue chips that model components of the human immune system, as well as diseases associated with immune dysfunction.

Overview

NIH has supported the development and initial validation of disease models that affect the following organ systems: circulatory, endocrine, gastrointestinal, immune, dental, oral and craniofacial, skin, musculoskeletal, nervous, sensory, reproductive, respiratory, and urinary. NCATS has also supported the development of models that interrogate the role of the environment in health and disease to elucidate environmental disease mechanisms and identify novel cellular mechanisms and biological pathways.

The goals of the initial two-year awards:

• Support studies to develop in vitro disease models using primary tissue or induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived patient cell sources on tissue-/organ-on-chips platforms
• Determine disease relevance of these models by preliminary testing of key experimental features
• Test the effectiveness of candidate drugs

In the second phase of the awards, researchers built upon successful disease models to demonstrate functionality and validity of their disease models and employed the models for efficacy and safety testing of therapeutic compounds. Models were developed with both primary and stem cell progenitors, with a focus on using stem cell progenitors when feasible.

Collaborators

Partnerships are vital to the success of the Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program. For more information about our partnerships please see our Partnerships Page.