An organ-on-a-chip for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the goal of SENSORA, a new 24-month public-private project in which Maastricht University, host institution of CircBioCare, is one of four partners. The platform will monitor inflamed joint tissue in real time, with the aim of speeding up drug development and reducing the need for animal testing.
What is SENSORA?
SENSORA (Sensor-ENabled Synovial Organ-on-Chip for RA) brings together the company Chiron, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Medical University of Vienna and Maastricht University, and is featured among the public-private partnerships of Health Holland. The partners will develop a miniature, human cell-based model of the synovial membrane, the tissue lining the joint that becomes inflamed in RA, to study disease mechanisms and test new treatments more reliably.
Why rheumatoid arthritis needs better models
RA affects around 18 million people worldwide and is up to three times more frequent in women than in men. It causes chronic inflammation, pain and progressive joint damage. Effective medicines exist, yet up to 40% of patients do not respond adequately to treatment. Current laboratory and animal models often miss the complexity of the human disease and the differences between women and men, which slows down the search for the right therapy for each patient.
How the technology works
SENSORA builds on Chiron’s existing synovial membrane model and integrates miniature sensors that continuously measure oxygen, acidity (pH) and other signals of cell health and inflammation. Automated microfluidic pumps will precisely control the cell environment, while data analysis and molecular profiling will validate the biological responses observed on the chip. The work moves step by step, from developing the sensor and fluid-control technologies to integrating them into the chip and validating the system through drug testing and reproducibility studies across the partner institutions.
How SENSORA connects with CircBioCare
RA and osteoarthritis (OA) are different diseases: RA is autoimmune and inflammatory, while OA involves the progressive degeneration of the whole joint. Yet both projects share the same conviction: to treat joint disease earlier and better, we need human-relevant models and molecular insight into what happens inside the joint.
In CircBioCare, Work Package 3, led by UMC Utrecht, is developing an organ-on-a-chip that includes the infrapatellar fat pad, a tissue often left out of joint models. It will help test whether the early OA microRNAs and proteins found in blood are actually released by the joint. And just as SENSORA addresses the RA patients who do not respond to treatment, CircBioCare seeks molecular signatures to stratify OA patients by phenotype, so that each can receive the most suitable therapy.
Both projects point to the same future: earlier detection, better-targeted therapies and more people keeping healthy, mobile joints.
