Organ-on-a-Chip at UCSD hosts annual symposia to educate researchers about cutting-edge technologies with the potential to reduce and replace animal models in research. This is a graduate student volunteer-led group with the primary goal of promoting ethical science.

Approximately 90% of drugs that are successful in animal trials fail in human clinical trials. The failure is a result of being toxic in 30% of cases, and ineffective in 60% of cases. This indicates that the animal models are not accurately predicting human response. In 2012, the tissue chip for drug screening initiative was launched through a collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The goal of this program is to develop human-based cell cultures which more accurately mimic human organs through the incorporation of 3-D scaffolds. These models have been termed organ-on-a-chip and vary in complexity at the cellular and technological levels.

Each year researchers, policymakers, and ethicists are invited to UCSD to discuss the current state of organ-on-a-chip technology and the research areas where organ-on-a-chip could feasibly replace animal models.

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Check out the Agenda for information on this year's symposium, held November 14-15, 2024!