A University of Bath-led project has secured £500,000 to develop a first-of-its-kind ‘organ-on-chip' device that replicates connections between the brain, gut and pancreas. The GlucoBrain project will allow researchers to track how signals move between the organs and uncover why diabetes may lead to changes in memory and cognition.
The study is led by world-leading experts in Lab-on-Chip technology at Bath, with collaboration from the University of Oxford and Johns Hopkins University. Their findings could pave the way for new treatments to improve the lives of millions of people affected by diabetes, dementia, or both.
Diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease are two of the world’s most pressing health problems, especially in ageing societies. While diabetes is widely known to affect the heart, kidneys and eyes, growing evidence suggests it is also linked with problems in memory, learning and brain function. However, the biological mechanisms behind this link remain poorly understood.
Dr Despina Moschou, the project’s lead, said: “Our gut, pancreas and brain are constantly communicating via a network of signals, helping us regulate hunger and blood sugar. But we still don’t fully understand how these signals interact at a cellular level and why glucose levels are linked to cognitive decline.
“By creating a connected system on a chip, we can study in real time how signals travel between organs, how diabetes may impair brain function, and how new drugs could help.”
Building a multi-organ model
Most current knowledge on the link between diabetes and dementia comes from animal studies, simple cell cultures and patient studies. While these are useful, they don’t fully and accurately capture all the complex interactions between our organs, hormones and cells.
Organ-on-chip technology uses living human cells in miniature devices that mimic how organs work in the body. Unlike cell cultures grown in a petri dish, these devices allow cells to grow in three dimensions, receive a controlled supply of nutrients and interact more naturally. For the first time, researchers will also be able to isolate these individual organs and cell types to understand exactly how they communicate at a molecular level.
The three-year project starts in October, bringing together engineers, clinicians, biologists and computer scientists to model the complex disease interactions. The team will first develop individual chip models for the gut, pancreas and brain, before connecting them into a multi-organ system. They will gradually increase complexity and measure how each organ responds to glucose, hormones and different drug treatments.
Researchers from the University of Oxford will provide core clinical expertise in diabetes and metabolic disease, ensuring models are physiologically accurate. The team from Johns Hopkins University brings specialist expertise in Alzheimer’s disease and brain organoids.
Unlocking future potential
GlucoBrain is a pilot project that will help researchers understand exactly how diseases like diabetes and dementia work at a deeper, biological level. This early-stage research will build the foundations for even more advanced and realistic models, bringing together more organs and cell types. By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, the devices have the potential to reveal new insights into how diseases emerge and develop.
Dr Moschou continued: “Not only would these devices give us an unprecedented way to study diseases, but they could help speed up drug discovery and testing, reducing reliance on animal models and making results more relevant to humans. In the long term, they could pave the way for personalised medicine, using a patient’s own cells to identify the most effective treatment.”
The project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Health Technologies Connectivity Awards.
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Notes to editors:
For more information, please contact Sarah Baker-Gaunt at the University of Bath Press Office on press@bath.ac.uk
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