Airway-on-a-Chip Reveals Lung Tissue Damage from Smoking

Despite the fact that the dangers of smoking cigarettes to humans are largely not seen in animals, hundreds of thousands of animals have been used in smoking experiments in the past several decades. Now, technology paving the way for a new approach.

Researchers at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute recently developed a new device that can smoke cigarettes like humans and allow the effect of the inhaled smoke to be studied on human lung cells supported in airway channels on a chip. This is the first device of its kind, and reveals the toxic effects of normal and electronic cigarette smoking to human lungs before and after exposure. The researchers also adapted the chip to identify diagnostic markers and research for potential treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), one of the top leading causes of death in the United States.;