I am not very familiar with culturing on chips. How does this work compare to regular culture?

Answer

When working with more complex organoid models, there are many important factors to consider including the extracellular matrix, fluid transportation, controlled medium exchange and spatial separation. For these more advanced models, the combined usage of extracellular matrices with a “organ on a chip” method may prove useful.  The chip serves as a “scaffold” which can be used to create compartments.

Please find here a few examples of organoids cultured on a chip:

• Gut-on-a-Chip microenvironment induces human intestinal cells to undergo villus differentiation
  Intestinal organoids: Use of a chip allows the culture to have an apical and basolateral side, allowing cells to show increased markers of intestinal cells.
• Interstitial flow regulates the angiogenic response and phenotype of endothelial cells in a 3D culture model
  Blood vessel formation: To date the formation of blood vessels has only been successfully demonstrated in 3D cell culture. In combination with a chip, the interstitial fluid flow, shear stress, and growth factor gradients could be mimicked.