Symposium Darwin Reyes on Organ-on-Chip platforms

We would like to invite you to the Organ-on-Chip Centre Twente symposium with dr. Darwin Reyes. His presentation on Organ-on-Chip platforms and sensors is open for all those interested. Join us for an inspiring moment and catch up with your UT colleagues working on Organs-on-Chips, microfluidics and platform development.

• Date: October 1, 2026
• Time: 10:00-11:00 h
• Location: Carré 2M

About the speaker

Dr. Darwin R. Reyes is a project leader at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and a Lecturer at the Division of Biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University.  His work at NIST has recently focused on developing integrated electronic capabilities to manipulate and measure cells in organ-on-a-chip devices, enabling real-time Heart-on-a-Chip and cancer cell-based testing for drug development and toxicity assays.  Dr. Reyes is also a Co-founder and Chair of the Microfluidics Association, and the Chair of the International Microphysiological Systems Society’s Standardization Interest Group. Dr. Reyes was recently bestowed with the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s Emerging Leader Award and the PML/NIST Outstanding Achievement in Measurement Services and Standards Award.

Symposium "Organ-on-a-Chip Platforms with Integrated Sensors for Multiparametric, Real-Time Cellular Responses"

In vitro preclinical testing is an essential step in drug development.  However, the use of animals has its limitations, as demonstrated by the low success rate (< 10%) when going from Preclinical testing to Clinical trials.  Therefore, new approach methods (NAMs) are needed to curtail the shortcomings in the drug development pathway. Microphysiological Systems (MPS)/Organ-on-a-Chip (OoC) platforms offer a well-controlled microenvironment in which human cells can be exposed to drugs and chemicals.  However, with a few exceptions, these platforms still use endpoint readouts, in which results are obtained by ending the experiment to analyze cell responses at a specific time point.  Endpoint assays require higher throughput than approaches that measure cell responses in real-time and continuously.  Moreover, a lot of important information regarding the effects of drugs and toxicants is lost when endpoint measurements are used.  Thus, integrating sensing capabilities into these platforms provides a more complete dynamic picture of cell behavior rather than a snapshot in time.  Therefore, my team has developed a platform that integrates electrodes on both sides of porous polyester membranes to manipulate cells via dielectrophoretic trapping and measure cell behavior, such as cell migration and heart cell beating. In addition, this system is also used as a multiparametric platform in which cells on both sides of the membrane are simultaneously probed for barrier integrity and changes in the frequency and amplitude of heart cell beating.  This platform will enable new ways to assess drug efficacy and safety through a multiparametric approach with a promising future in preclinical testing.