Cervix-on-Chip
Among females worldwide, cervical cancer ranks fourth for both incidence and mortality with estimated 570,000 cases and 311,000 deaths in 2018, and the numbers are still increasing. In lower HDI settings, it ranks second in incidence and mortality. Cervical cancer arises from a persistent infection with high-risk human papilloma virus (HPV) which can lead to a precancerous lesion (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) and squamous cell carcinoma. In contrast, low-risk HPV strains causes anogenital warts, from which about 1% of USA population suffers at any time. HPV infections are the most common STI and about 80% of sexually active people will have an HPV infection at some point in their lives. However, most infections are cleared without any symptoms. In this project, we are working on a patient-specific Cervix-on-a-Chip model that allows mechanistic research, disease modeling and drug testing.

Funding: H2020 - IMI2 Inno4vac; Bf3R Research Funding; BW Foundation;

Publications

E. Kromidas, A. Geier, A. Weghofer, H.-Y. Liu, M. Weiss, P. Loskill
Immunocompetent PDMS-free Organ-on-Chip Model of Cervical Cancer Integrating Patient-Specific Cervical Fibroblasts and Neutrophils
Adv. Healthc. Mater., 2023, 2302714, https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202302714

S. Costa, V. Vilas-Boas, F. Lebre, J.M. Granjeiro, C.M. Catarino, L. Moreira Teixeira, P. Loskill, E. Alfaro-Moreno, A.R. Ribeiro
Microfluidic-based skin-on-chip systems for safety assessment of nanomaterials
Trends in Biotechnology, 2023, 41, 1282-1298, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2023.05.009

M. Weiss, J. Barz, M. Ackermann, R. Utz, A. Ghoul, K.-D. Weltmann, M.B. Stope, D. Wallwiener, K. Schenke-Layland, C. Oehr, S. Brucker, P. Loskill
Dose-dependent Tissue-Level Characterization of a Medical Atmospheric Pressure Argon Plasma Jet
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2019, 11, 19841-19853, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b04803