Study advances impact of human organ-on-chip platforms

Collaborative study to inform CSE-led efforts to scale organs on a chip 

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (02/18/2026) — University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering faculty are partnering with health sciences colleagues to better understand how radiation affects human organ tissue—using miniature, three-dimensional systems known as organs on a chip.

The collaboration brings together three components on the Twin Cities campus: a heart model, a lung model and a blood-brain barrier model. Each replicates essential features of living tissue while allowing researchers to precisely study radiation exposure in ways that aren’t possible in patients.

Biomedical engineering professor Brenda Ogle is developing the heart component. Chemical engineering and materials science associate professor Samira Azarin is building a blood-brain barrier model, and project lead Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari, a professor of pediatrics and medicine in the University of Minnesota Medical School, is directing the lung model.

While organ-on-a-chip technology has expanded rapidly over the past decade, this University of Minnesota team is focused on tissues that are constantly in motion—such as the heart and lungs—and on tailoring the integrated system to study radiation exposure.

“This exercise has really helped us better define the key metrics in this system and also how we can apply it not just for radiation exposure out in the field, but radiation exposure in occupations, cancer treatment, and more,” Ogle said. 

Ogle’s heart model uses stem cell-derived cardiac cells to form micro-tissues mimicking heart function. Azarin is using 3D bioprinting and stem cells for her blood-brain barrier, a key part of how the body keeps the brain safe from potentially harmful compounds in the blood. Yet it also often blocks potentially helpful drug molecules from entering the brain. 

Once the University of Minnesota components are finalized, the team will transfer the technology to collaborator Vincent Ho, director of the Center for Biotechnology at the Uniformed Services University in Maryland, for further studies.

Beyond this study, the collaboration is helping Ogle advance a broader goal.

“Our concept is to build a national facility with the capacity to make organ-on-a-chip models—typically made in small batches in siloed research laboratories—more broadly accessible. The facility will drive the scaled production, preservation, storage and distribution of such testbeds,” she said.

Read the full story on the University of Minnesota Research and Innovation website.

Learn how CSE experts are standouts in the race to regenerate tissues for damaged organs, in Inventing Tomorrow magazine.