Intestinal explant barrier chip: long-term intestinal absorption screening in a novel microphysiological system using tissue explants.

The majority of intestinal screening models use cell lines that do not reflect the complexity of the human intestinal tract and hence often fail to accurately predict intestinal drug absorption. Tissue explants have intact intestinal architecture and cell type diversity, but show short viability in static conditions. Here, we present a medium throughput microphysiological system, Intestinal Explant Barrier Chip (IEBC), that creates a dynamic microfluidic microenvironment and prolongs tissue viability.

Fluidized capacitive bioanode as a novel reactor concept for the microbial fuel cell.

The use of granular electrodes in Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) is attractive because granules provide a cost-effective way to create a high electrode surface area, which is essential to achieve high current and power densities. Here, we show a novel reactor design based on capacitive granules: the fluidized capacitive bioanode. Activated carbon (AC) granules are colonized by electrochemically active microorganisms, which extract electrons from acetate and store the electrons in the granule.