Source: HSE University (November 9, 2026). AI-generated summary by biochip.com, published . Not independently reviewed.
Key takeaways
- HSE’s placenta-on-a-chip model was used to assess whether breast cancer drugs cross from maternal blood to the fetus.
- The team says its results informed recommendations about when and in what combinations the drugs might be used during pregnancy.
- HSE says the models are not yet in widespread clinical practice, and the interview gives no sample size for the reported work.
Researchers at HSE University are developing miniature organ-on-a-chip models to study how drugs affect human tissues, including the placenta. In an interview with HSE News Service, laboratory head Evgeny Knyazev described how the devices use living cells and flowing nutrient-rich fluid to mimic parts of organ function. His team has used a placenta model to examine whether breast cancer drugs can cross from a pregnant patient’s bloodstream to a fetus and how they may affect fetal development. The work points to a possible way to improve preclinical research, but the models are not yet in widespread clinical use.
Building miniature models of human organs
An organ-on-a-chip is about the size of a USB flash drive or microscope slide, Knyazev said. Inside, chambers hold living cells, while tiny channels carry nutrient-rich fluid, mimicking some aspects of blood circulation.
Think of the device as a small stage where cells can respond to conditions they would encounter in the body. The flowing fluid matters because human cells can change their behavior in response to it, helping researchers build models that more closely reflect human biology than cells grown without those conditions.
Why model the placenta?
HSE researchers are developing models of the gut and placenta, as well as tumor cells grown on chips. Placenta-on-a-chip research is less common than work on gut models: Knyazev said only a few dozen studies of placenta models had been published, compared with thousands using gut-on-a-chip systems.
That gap matters for studying medicines during pregnancy. Researchers cannot ethically test drugs on pregnant women in the same way they might in other clinical settings, so a model of the placenta could help investigate how a medicine moves between maternal and fetal circulation. Knyazev said the HSE team had demonstrated that its model could be used to assess whether breast cancer drugs cross from the mother’s bloodstream to the fetus and examine effects on fetal development. The team used that research to develop recommendations about when during pregnancy the drugs might be administered and in what combinations.
Potential beyond animal studies
Knyazev described organ-on-a-chip research as basic science that could support future practical applications. He said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in late 2023 that it would consider organ-on-a-chip results alongside animal studies when evaluating potential drugs for human use. The interview also states that liver-on-a-chip models are the only ones the FDA has approved so far.
These devices could help researchers study human biology without relying entirely on animal experiments. Knyazev argued that chip models may better reflect human responses because animals differ from people in their genes, tissue chemistry, anatomy, and physiology. He said more than half of findings from animal experiments are not later replicated in humans, but the interview does not provide details about the studies behind that figure.
Why This Matters
The HSE work illustrates how a small device can create a controlled setting for studying processes that are difficult to examine directly, especially during pregnancy. The team is also exploring models of pre-eclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication involving high blood pressure and problems in maternal organs, to investigate placental development and potential drug effects.
For now, organ-on-a-chip models are research tools, not replacements for clinical evidence or animal studies across the board. The HSE researchers have not adopted them in widespread clinical practice. Further work will determine how reliably these models predict drug effects and where they can contribute to evaluating medicines.
Topics: Organ-on-a-chip · Cancer
Start here: Organ-on-a-chip explained