Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network pump-priming funding awarded to Dr Caroline Weight

Congratulations to MPRU postdoctoral research associate Dr Caroline Weight for securing a £25,000 Pump Priming Award from the Organ-On-A-Chip Technologies Network to study ‘Streptococcus pneumoniae infection on a human lung-on-chip model’. Caroline will utilise a state-of-the-art lung-on-a-chip model developed at the University of Southampton to study the role of epithelial cells in pneumococcal infections. Using this model, Caroline and collaborators will grow epithelial cells that mimic real life tissue dynamics and take real-time measurements that cannot be achieved in standard static lab experiments. This model will facilitate discovery of new ways in which epithelial cells respond to pneumococcal infections. Such findings may also provide insight on the pathophysiology of other respiratory infections.