Biomimetic glomerular basement membrane for a structured kidney-on-chip

Advancement in biomedical research and drug discovery is today importantly limited by in vivo animal studies, for high costs and ethical constraints, as well as by the high cost and duration of clinical trials. Organ-on-chip technologies have been recently proposed as valid alternative to investigate pathophysiological processes in vitro using mammalian cells and customized devices [1]. In this study, we propose a novel kidney-on-chip device designed to replicate the glomerular filtration process with a focus on the spatial separation of podocytes and endothelial cells by a glomerular basement membrane (GBM).