2026.05.21 Decoding Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Press release title: Decoding Inflammatory Bowel Disease – on a chip Manuscript title: Human Inflammatory Bowel Disease-on-a-chip for modelling disease progression, cancer initiation, and sex-specific effects Journal: Nature Biomedical Engineering Illustration of the human Colon Chip: This illustration shows the design of the human Colon Chip with which the research team recreated salient features of IBD. Shown on the left is a commercially available organ-on-a-chip device. Next to it is a cross-section of the epithelial-stromal tissue interface formed with patient-derived cells. The interface is composed of a fibroblast rich stroma that is perfused with medium to mimic the fluid flow within stroma tissue itself, as well as the epithelium, which is composed of absorptive cells and Goblet cells, secretes a thick mucus layer into the lumen of the apical channel that also experiences fluid flow. Both tissues are separated by a flexible, porous, ECM-coated membrane, and the entire tissue-tissue interface can be stretched and relaxed rhythmically to mimic peristalsis-like motions. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University Tissue breakdown in IBD Chip: This immunofluorescence analysis shows how epithelial tissue integrity and with it the normal barrier functions of the colon that the team modeled in Healthy Chips (top row) are lost in IBD Chips (bottom row). All markers, including DAPI, which stains the nuclei of cells, and b-Catenin and E-Cadherin, which outline the seamless attachments of epithelial cells, indicate that the epithelium is specifically disrupted, just as it is in inflamed colon regions in IBD patients. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University