This is science's moment to reckon with. It's not very often that scientists, doctors and technologists all work on the same problem at the same time. And yet, Covid-19 has brought us here.
At Draper, the Cambridge-based not-for-profit research and development organization, biomedical scientists are working with "organ-on-a-chip" technology to test an in vitro human lung model to investigate responses following infection with Covid-19 and influenza.
In the inaugural edition of "Bytes with the Beat," BostInno's new event series that features one-on-one, engaging conversations with the movers and shakers of the state's innovation landscape, we sat down with Ashley Gard, a biomedical scientist at Draper to shed more light on this research.
Here are some takeaways from our conversation.
Role in Covid-19 research
Gard explained that Draper has developed a lung model of the upper airway in the organ-on-a-chip device to model an influenza infection.
"Having developed this platform for evaluation of other respiratory pathogens, it was a pretty natural step forward for us to move into evaluation of other respiratory pathogens, that being coronavirus," Gard said.
How it works
Gard explained that simple systems like petri dishes can never accurately capture the complexity of a human system — which necessitates animal trials, which are used as the step between simple systems and human trials. But that step has been skipped in the coronavirus fight. And this is where "organ-on-a-chip" can fill the gap.
Up to 2,000 individual human tissues can grow in one of Draper's incubators at any given time.
Beyond the pandemic
This technology was retrofitted to use in the fight against Covid-19, rather than being designed for it. Draper's organ-on-a-chip device, which it calls PREDICT-96, is compact and easy to use and lets scientists like Gard generate a lot of data at any one time.
Gard said this device can be extended to study anything about the human tissue.
A million thanks to those of you who joined us! This is just the first edition of "Bytes with the Beat." Stay tuned for more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur1w9uJpBDU&feature=youtu.be
