Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network

Queen Mary ran the UK Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network providing access to pump priming funding, training activities, research meetings and collaboration opportunities. The Network was funded by a grant from the MRC, EPSRC and BBSRC via the Technologies Touching Life scheme from 2018 until June 2022 to capture, inspire and grow UK research activity in the Organ-on-a-Chip.

This hugely successful UK Network attracted over 1,000 members from academia, industry, the regulatory bodies and other interested third parties. We ran 18 pump priming projects, and a further 16 proof of concept projects in partnership with Emulate. Through these and numerous other activities the Network helped to advance the field of organ-on-a-chip technology and broader pre-clinical translational in vitro models, driving the development of new research partnerships across the UK.

The Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network successfully delivered on the core aims to:

1. Develop a vibrant multidisciplinary research community, bringing focus to the varied in vitro models research activity in the UK;
2. Facilitate inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral research collaborations, to develop the next generation of in vitro models research solutions;
3. To train, support and inspire the next generation of outstanding leaders in this rapidly developing field.

The UK Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network was led by Prof Hazel Screen, also the co-Director of the Queen Mary Centre for Predictive in vitro Models. The Network has now reached the end of the funding period. However Queen Mary continues to run the annual one day organ-chip research symposium in September . To find out more about the network and the achievements during the three year funding period please visit: https://www.organonachip.org.uk