Scientists invent first "Vagina-on-a-Chip" - Video
Overview
Researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University have created a new Organ Chip that replicates the human vaginal tissue microenvironment including its microbiome in vitro. Composed of human vaginal epithelium and underlying connective tissue cells, the Vagina Chip replicates many of the physiological features of the vagina and can be inoculated with different strains of bacteria to study their effects on the organ's health. The chip is described in a new paper published in Microbiome.
The Vagina Chip was developed with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which aimed to create a biotherapeutic treatment for BV and move it into human clinical trials to decrease infections of the reproductive tract, prenatal complications, and infant death rates. particularly in low-resource nations.
Reference:
Mahajan, G., Doherty, E., To, T. et al. Vaginal microbiome-host interactions modeled in a human vagina-on-a-chip. Microbiome 10, 201 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-022-01400-1
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