Organ-on-a-chip engineering
Our work laid foundations to the field of organ-on-a-chip engineering through technologies such as Biowire, AngioChip and inVADE platform. Microfabrication and 3D printing technologies are at the core of what we do. We are relying on state-of-the-art facilities at CRAFT to combine hot-embossing and 3D printing to scale-up production of these organ-on-a-chip devices for wide-spread use. We are developing systems that mimic physiology of the heart, kidney and vasculature for the purpose of modeling human disease and discovering better and more effective drugs. Learning how to incorporate naturally occurring fractal and chaotic cues into the organ-on-a-chip systems is the next frontier we are tackling. Together with our hospital-based colleagues, we are working with patient-derived iPSCs to mimic diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy and cardiac fibrosis. We are building glomerulus-on-a-chip and proximal tubule-on-a-chip systems that enable us to study what causes rejection of transplanted kidneys and how to develop new drugs that can remedy this problem. We are infecting our organs-on-a-chip with SARS-CoV-2 in the CL3 facility to learn the mechanisms behind COVID-19 triggered inflammation, vascular dysfunction and myocarditis.
Bioinspired and electroactive polymers
We synthesize new biodegradable and biocompatible polymers based on small molecules found in the human body, to tailor specific functions, such as immunomodulation, elasticity and conductivity. Through biofabrication, we are advancing scaffold technologies in both cardiac tissue engineering and organs-on-a-chip using these new materials. Using these approaches we developed technologies such as Injectable Tissue, that enable non-invasive delivery of fully functional tissues into the body through a keyhole and Hook-in-Tissues which enable stacking and instantaneous assembly of fully functional tissues. Most groups 3D print structures from hydrogels, which deform as a result of cell tractional forces, or rigid polymers, which are too stiff for soft tissue applications. We are pioneering 3D printing of designer elastic biopolymers to create versatile granular and metamaterial structures for applications in soft tissue engineering.
Peptide-modified materials for regenerative medicine
We are advancing our peptide-based biomimetic and immunomodulatory materials for regeneration of tissues such as skin and immune system. We identified a unique peptide from angiopoitin-1 that enables collective cell migration and decreases inflammation in six different tissue models. Hydrogels and small molecules based on this peptide are now advancing in dermatological clinical trials for the healing of skin after procedures such as laser face resurfacing and microneedling, for surgical wound healing and even to create anti-inflammatory therapies for COVID19.
Dr. Milica Radisic is a Professor at the University of Toronto, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Organ-on-a-Chip Engineering and a Senior Scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute. She is a co-founder of the Center for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies (CRAFT) and a scientific lead of the Human Organ Emulation Self-driving Laboratory of the Acceleration Consortium. She is a Fellow of 10 academies and professional societies including the Royal Society of Canada-Academy of Science, Canadian Academy of Engineering, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering (AIBME) etc. She obtained her B.Eng in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University and Ph.D. from MIT. She was a recipient of the MIT Technology Review Top 35 Under 35, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, NSERC E.W.R Steacie Fellowship, YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, Killam Fellowship, Acta Biomaterialia Silver Medal, Humboldt Research Award, NSERC Polanyi Prize, Governor General Innovation Award to name a few. Her research focuses on organ-on-a-chip engineering and development of new biomaterials that promote healing and attenuate scarring. She is internationally acclaimed for spearheading the field of organ-on-a-chip (OoC) engineering. To overcome the limitations of non-expandable human cardiomyocytes and species differences in animal models, her lab leveraged induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to build functional human heart tissue and mature it using long-term electrical stimulation, enabling modeling of patient-specific cardiac disease. She developed new methods to vascularize tissues. She is an Executive Editor for ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, Senior Consulting Editor for the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, a reviewing editor for eLife and a member of the editorial board of another 8 journals. She served on the Board of Directors for Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, Canadian Biomaterials Society and McMaster University Alumni Association. She organized Keystone, EMBO and ECI conferences and numerous sessions at TERMIS and BMES meetings. She is BME Review Panel Chair for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and member of review panels for CIHR and NIH. She is a co-founder of two companies TARA Biosystems (acquired by Valo Health), that uses human engineered heart tissues for screening of AI designed drugs, and Quthero that advances regenerative peptide materials. Her work has been presented in over 260 publications, garnering over 27,000 citations with an h-index of 83. Her publications appeared in Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Nature Materials, Nature Methods, Nature Protocols, Nature Communications, PNAS etc.