The day when most new drugs will be developed and tested directly using human tissues is right around the corner

Most people know what microelectronics are: those small but mighty components powering our phones, TVs, and other electronic devices.

Microfluidics is a related miniaturization technology but applied to fluids instead of electricity. Often hidden from view, microfluidics underlies a variety of devices that are essential to our lives, from home pregnancy tests to inkjet printers to glucometers for the monitoring of diabetes.

In recent years a class of microfluidic devices, called organs-on-chips, have even been used to mimic the natural environments of organs, opening the door to experiments that would otherwise not be feasible