Patient-derived liver mini-organs and chips to study medicine-caused liver damage
Modeling Drug Induced Liver Injury with Patient-Derived Liver Organoids and Microfluidic Chips
This project uses liver tissue grown from patients' own cells and tiny organ-on-chip devices to help spot and understand liver damage caused by medicines like amoxicillin-clavulanate.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Michigan at Ann Arbor NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ann Arbor, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11228759 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will take a small blood or skin sample from people who previously had drug-related liver injury and turn those cells into miniature liver tissues (organoids). They'll place those organoids into microfluidic "organ-on-chip" devices that mimic blood flow and expose them to medicines and herbal products to watch how the liver tissue responds. The team will compare organoids from affected patients to control samples to look for patterns and biomarkers that predict injury. The work builds on a University of Michigan DILIN biobank of well-characterized DILI patients and aims to scale the platform for testing many drugs.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: People who previously experienced drug-induced liver injury—especially from antibiotics like amoxicillin-clavulanate—and who are willing to donate a small blood or skin sample for research would be ideal candidates.
Not a fit: People with active, severe liver failure needing immediate treatment or those with liver disease unrelated to drug exposure may not receive direct benefit from this research.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help predict which medicines or supplements are likely to harm specific people's livers and guide safer prescribing and drug development.
How similar studies have performed: Lab studies using liver organoids and liver-on-chip systems have shown promise for predicting drug toxicity, but using patient-derived organoids for personalized DILI prediction is still an emerging and relatively novel approach.
Where this research is happening
Ann Arbor, United States
- University of Michigan at Ann Arbor — Ann Arbor, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sexton, Jonathan Zachary — University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- Study coordinator: Sexton, Jonathan Zachary
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.