UR scientists are experimenting with tissue-in-chip technology to create respiratory drugs

Scientists at the University of Rochester are working with tissue-in-chip technology to find a treatment for neurological symptoms like brain fog that accompany respiratory illnesses.

Tissue-in-chip technology involves small chips with ultra-thin membranes that use networks of human cells to simulate the effects of infection and treatment.

Benjamin Miller and his team are currently in the process of developing a dual-tissue model that, according to Miller, will “take a lung chip and a brain chip and connect them together.”

“(We will) infect the lung chip with flu and measure inflammation in the brain chip,” he said. “Then we can test drugs that can either prevent the inflammation in the brain or treat the inflammation in the brain.”

Miller said the model could take up to a year to create and drug testing could take another two years.

“Whether it's flu or other viruses, we want this to be a tool that allows people to develop these drugs much faster than they can now,” Miller said. He added that the findings could also help treat long-term COVID symptoms.

The federal government awarded the university a three-year contract totaling $7.1 million to fund the experiment.