Fig. 6. Different types of tumor-on-a-chip platforms.

a Schematics of the tumor-on-a-chip design for metastatic breast cancer research. The chip is made up of a top culture medium reservoir and a bottom cell growth chamber, separated by a dialysis membrane. Adapted with permission²¹³. Copyright 2018, Wiley. b Microfluidic device-cultured BTSCs to study glioma. I A schematic diagram of the tumor chip platform, consisting of a cell/gel loading microchamber and two medium flow channels on both sides. II Representative images of microvessel formation at different time points over 6 days. III A whole chip scan showing interconnected microvessel network formation on day 4. Adapted with permission¹⁹⁶. Copyright 2019, Wiley. c Biomimetic vascular microfluidic system on a human-on-leaf-chip for studying organ-specific pancreatic cancer metastasis. I Photograph of the assembled biomimetic vascular human-on-leaf-chip system. II Image of the chambers of interconnected biomimetic vascular networks in the chip filled with red ink. III Schematic diagram of the vascularization of liver and bone tissue in the biomimetic vascular system where PANC-1 cancer cells have metastasized. Adapted with permission²¹⁷. Copyright 2020, Wiley.