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NIH grant 1R43HD122546-01: FertiliChip: An Innovative Fallopian Tube-on-Chip Model for Women's Reproductive Health Research
Institute: {'code': 'HD', 'abbreviation': 'NICHD', 'name': 'Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development', 'admin_org_id': '12500030', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: Abigail G Edwards. Award: $399978.
Start: 2026-09-05T00:00:00.
Project Summary
Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a hidden crisis affecting women's reproductive health,
costing the US over $4.5 billion annually, contributing to declining birth rates, and affecting
approximately 750,000 American women each year. PID is triggered by sexually transmitted
infections (STIs) like Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), causing
severe complications such as chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy, infertility, and increased
ovarian/cervical cancer risk. Current treatments with antibiotics cannot reverse tissue damage or
cure long-term complications due to chronic inflammation. PID remains underfunded and
underdiagnosed and lacks early diagnostic tools and treatment. Current in vitro FT models lack
the cellular complexity and physiological flow condition to accurately reproduce the in vivo system,
and in vivo models are expensive and do not reflect human anatomy and response. Moreover,
federal agencies (FDA, NIH) have called to reduce animal testing in favor of New Approach
Methodologies (NAMs). We propose to develop FertiliChip, an innovative FT-on-chip model
to advance women’s reproductive health research. The FertiliChip will be the first
comprehensive, vascularized human FT in-vitro model system, incorporating four key cell
types under physiological conditions. This platform will enable research on STI or FT disease
progression, biomarker discovery, therapeutic development, host-pathogen interactions, and
hormonal responses. Four FT cell types, secretory epithelial cells (SECs), ciliated epithelial cells
(CECs), lamina propria fibroblasts (LPFs), and smooth muscle cells (SMCs), will be utilized for
the in vitro model using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microfluidic devices. Primary FT
epithelial cells will be differentiated into SECs and CECs using estradiol. Model development
protocols will be optimized for basement membrane, media compatibility, seeding density and
order, flow rates, and CT multiplicity of infection (MOI). Success metrics include ≥90% cell
viability, positive biomarker identification, confirmed cilia beating function, and optimal confluency
within the microfluidic devices. Healthy FertiliChips will then be infected with CT to induce an early
PID-like inflammation state. Infection progression will be tracked through direct CT antibody
staining, and inflammatory gene expression will be monitored via RT-qPCR. Success metrics
include an optimized MOI of CT that successfully infects FertiliChips and produces a significant
(p<0.05) overexpression of ≥80% of selected key PID-inflammation markers. FertiliChip will
address a major gap in current research capabilities and accelerate critical research areas,
providing breakthrough tools to prevent PID from devastating women's reproductive futures.document fetched 2026-09-13 02:45