Polylactic acid, a sustainable, biocompatible, transparent substrate material for Organ-On-Chip, and Microfluidic applications

AbstractOrgan-on-chips are miniaturised devices aiming at replacing animal models for drug discovery, toxicology and studies of complex biological phenomena. The field of Organ-On-Chip has grown exponentially, and has led to the formation of companies providing commercial Organ-On-Chip devices. Yet, it may be surprising to learn that the majority of these commercial devices are made from Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone elastomer that is widely used in microfluidic prototyping, but which has been proven difficult to use in industrial settings and poses a number of challenges to experimentalists, including leaching of uncured oligomers and uncontrolled adsorption of small compounds. T…