Narrow Results

The vasculature is regulated by various chemical and mechanical factors. Reproducing these factors in vitro is crucial for the understanding of the mechanisms underlying vascular diseases and the development of new therapeutics and delivery techniques. Microfluidic technology offers opportunities to precisely control the level, duration and extent of various cues, providing unprecedented capabilities to recapitulate the vascular microenvironment. In the first part of this article, we review existing microfluidic technology that is capable of controlling both chemical and mechanical factors regulating the vascular microenvironment. In particular, we focus on micro-systems developed for controlling key parameters such as oxygen tension, co-culture, shear stress, cyclic stretch and flow patterns. In the second part of this article, we highlight recent advances that resulted from the use of these microfluidic devices for vascular research.

The application of three-dimensional (3D) spheroids or organoids in drug testing and precision medicine has led to significant advancements in how cancer and other diseases are treated. Not only can these 3D structures mimic the architecture and structure of tumors, but organoids formed from primary patient samples are able to recapitulate the molecular and functional characteristics of the original patient tumors. These clinically and physiologically relevant organoids can therefore be used to address questions related to drug efficacy and resistance and can even be used to predict patient-specific drug responses. However, despite such evident advantages, the lack of a patient-specific tumor microenvironment (TME), or even the basic TME that includes sufficient immune cells and other cell types, limits the potential of these organoids in immunotherapy drug testing. As such, co-culture models of patient-derived organoids with immune cells have since been developed to explore cancer-immune interactions, monotherapy or combinatorial immunotherapy drug testing, and variable patient drug responses. Moreover, when coupled with artificial intelligence-driven platforms, these organoid models can be more efficiently utilized to identify better therapeutic options and improve health outcomes through precision medicine. This review aims to highlight the use of organoids and the broader implementations of such organoid models in functional precision medicine, particularly in the context of immunotherapy.

Microbial conversion of lignocellulose to butanol was a fascinating way to provide a renewable energy source. Filter paper degradation rate of soil samples from four different habitants and carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase) were analyzed. The results showed that the samples from STS (the surface of a tree stump) and DTS (the deep of a tree stump) had higher filter paper degradation rate and CMCase activity. When the soil samples from STS were precultured for 72 h using filter paper as the sole carbon source, and cocultured with Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC824 for 40 h, the butanol yield was 0.21 g/g filter paper. The strain composition of the samples from STS was researched. Bacterial, actinomycetes, mold and yeasts were filtered and their cellulose degradation ability were analyzed. Bacterial and mold had higher CMCase activity. These results demonstrate that the mix-strains from STS could degrade filtrate paper, the production from which could be used by Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC824 to produce butanol.