Tissue-engineered constructs and organ-on-chip platforms are emerging as powerful tools for drug screening, disease modeling, and regenerative medicine. Three-dimensional constructs created from human cells can provide insight into patient-specific responses to therapeutic agents and may complement conventional animal studies. However, the development of physiologically relevant in vitro human tissue models requires the physical and biochemical microenvironment of these constructs to be monitored and validated under conditions that closely mimic those in vivo.
There is therefore a need for microfluidic bioreactors and organ-on-chip systems with integrated microsensors capable of monitoring physical and biochemical parameters, including pH, oxygen, temperature, and cellular metabolic activity. Cell-secreted biomarkers can provide additional information on tissue function and response to therapeutic interventions. Ideally, these sensor systems should enable continuous or longitudinal monitoring of tissue microenvironments over periods ranging from days to several weeks without disrupting the cultured tissues.
Miniaturized and flexible sensors also offer important opportunities for wound monitoring and regenerative medicine. In particular, chronic wounds can be monitored through biochemical markers associated with wound status and healing progression, potentially enabling earlier detection of complications and guiding therapeutic intervention. In this talk, I will present two examples of microscale sensor systems: (i) miniaturized physical and biochemical sensors integrated with microfluidic organ and tissue constructs and (ii) flexible sensor platforms for monitoring chronic wounds. Together, these examples illustrate how microscale sensing technologies can provide quantitative, real-time information from engineered tissues and contribute to the development of more physiologically relevant experimental and therapeutic platforms.