Asst Prof Tay, also a faculty at School of Biological Sciences and an expert in developing hydrogels, said: “This research underscores the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to tackle complex diseases. By coupling the different biological cells with the optimal cell culture materials, it is now possible to recreate and mimic the actual conditions and states in a blood vessel that are caused by atherosclerosis.
“This is a positive step in the development of in vitro pre-clinical platforms that may gradually replace animal testing for a better understanding of diseases and drug testing.”
The team now plans to conduct more experiments to further improve the modelling using their new chip and to use it to study other vascular diseases, in addition to atherosclerosis at varying stages of development.
This innovation is aligned with the NTU 2025 Strategic Plan, where responding to the needs and challenges of healthy living and aging is one of the four humanity’s grand challenges the University aims to address.
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