Real-time sensing-integrated organoid-on-a-chip platforms: Technological progress and emerging biomedical applications

As micro-scale 3D tissues self-organized from stem cells, organoids can highly recapitulate the cellular composition and complex spatial architecture of human organs, establishing themselves as pivotal physiological models in biomedical research. Although organoids offer significant advantages in mimicking human physiological structures, traditional monitoring methodologies predominantly rely on destructive endpoint assays, which fail to capture the transient fluctuations inherent in biological processes. To overcome this limitation, we propose the sensing-integrated organoid-on-a-chip, a frontier interdisciplinary platform. This review systematically outlines the comprehensive construction of this platform, focusing on the synergistic integration of microenvironmental engineering and real-time sensing technologies. The article provides an in-depth analysis of real-time monitoring facilitated by high-performance electrical, optical, and mechanical sensors to quantify organoid developmental maturation, metabolic fluctuations, and pathological evolution. We emphasize the application potential of this platform across developmental biology, disease modeling, drug screening, and neuroscience exploration. Furthermore, we discuss the integration of closed-loop feedback regulation systems and artificial intelligence-assisted analysis, while outlining the trajectory of this platform toward clinical precision medicine and industrial standardization. We firmly believe that sensing-integrated organoid-on-a-chip platforms will accelerate the advancement of personalized diagnosis and therapeutics, thereby ushering in a new era of dynamic biomedical research and intelligent healthcare.