Harvard College

Bret A Nestor

Donald Elliot Ingber

Dennis L Kasper

Richard Novak

Cicely Fadel

Diogo M Camacho

Elizabeth L Calamari

Francesca S Gazzaniga

Amir Bein

Michael L Cronce

Sasan Jalili-Firoozinezhad

A microfluidic device is directed to sustaining a complex microbial community in direct and indirect contact with living human intestinal cells in vitro. The device includes a first microchannel having cultured cells of a human intestinal epithelium and microbiota, the first microchannel further having a first level of oxygen. The device further includes a second microchannel having cultured cells of a vascular endothelium, the second microchannel further having a second level of oxygen. The device also includes a membrane located at an interface region between the first microchannel and the second microchannel, the membrane being composed of an oxygen-permeable material or further having pores via which oxygen flows between the first microchannel and the second microchannel to form a physiologically-relevant oxygen gradient.

Complex human gut microbiome cultured in an anaerobic human gut-on-a-chip

Growing community of inventors

Regina, Canada

Bret A Nestor