Microbiome on a chip: a promising technology for modeling of human organ microbiomes and their interactions

The increasing knowledge of the makeup and role of organ microbiomes has created new possibilities for understanding and managing human illnesses. The models used for animal studies conducted in laboratory settings and live animals may not always offer the necessary insights. One in vitro cell culture system known as organ-on-a-chip technology has garnered interest as a way to collect data that accurately reflects human responses. Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) technology, while accurately simulating the function of tissues and organs, has largely covered the differences between animal and human systems. Microbiome-on-a-chip (MoC) offers benefits over other in vitro procedures, permitting dimensional observation of ecological dynamics, microbial growth, and host-associated interactions while regulating and assessing relevant environmental parameters such as pH and O₂ in real-time. The fabricated MoC platforms can be designed to test microbiome-enabled therapies, to study culture and pharmacology, antibiotic resistance, and to model multi-organ interactions mediated by the microbiome. In the current overview, we provide a translational perspective and discuss different organs, such as: oral, skin, gut and vaginal microbiota on a chip and recently developed MoC-based devices. The commonly used MoC fabrication methods, such as microfluidics and 3D printing, have been explored, and the potential applications of MoC in microbiome engineering have been suggested.