Recognition highlights the growing impact of Organ Chip technology in reducing animal testing in biomedical and women’s health research
(BOSTON) — The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University is proud to announce that the Biosensing, Microfluidics, and Microsystems team, led by Wyss Senior Engineer Adama Sesay, Ph.D., together with the Female Reproductive Health team, has received the 2026 Lush Science Prize. The prize recognizes their work developing next-generation, sensor-integrated human Organ Chips to advance biomedical and women’s health research. By creating human female Organ Chips that mimic the physiology and pathophysiology of the cervix and vagina, and integrating them with cutting-edge sensor technology, the teams’ work has significant potential to reduce animal testing in biomedical research, particularly in women’s health, where animal models often lack human-relevant translational applications. Zohreh Izadifar, Ph.D., former postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Wyss Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and a Research Scholar at the Wyss Institute, received the award on behalf of the teams during the Lush Prize award ceremony, held and livestreamed on May 12 in London.
Founded in 2012 by Lush Cosmetics and the Ethical Consumer Research Association, the Lush Prize recognizes groundbreaking work advancing non-animal testing methods and human-relevant biomedical research. The prize supports scientists, organizations, and advocates developing innovative alternatives to animal testing, with a particular emphasis on technologies that can improve the predictive accuracy and ethical standards of toxicology and drug development.
Our project addresses major challenges human biomedical research is facing, the absence of effective models that allow studying diseases of the female reproductive tract, and the limited adoption of human-relevant testing systems due to a lack of real-time measurement tools.
Building on the pioneering work from Wyss Founding Director Don Ingber’s lab on Human Organ Chips, the teams’ award-winning project combines work in multiple disciplines to develop next-generation human female Organ Chips models that can transform how new medicines are developed by replacing animal testing with more accurate human-based models. “Our project addresses major challenges human biomedical research is facing, the absence of effective models that allow studying diseases of the female reproductive tract, and the limited adoption of human-relevant testing systems due to a lack of real-time measurement tools,” said Izadifar.
The Wyss Institute’s human Cervix and Vagina Chips, in particular, reproduce major physiological and pathological aspects of the female reproductive tract. Tight integration of multiple miniature sensors that continuously track key functions such as tissue barrier strength, oxygen levels, acidity (pH), temperature, and cellular metabolic activity in real time significantly contributes to the advancement of Organ Chip technology. “Continuously expanding this repertoire allows us and other scientists to observe how female reproductive tract [and other] organs respond to drugs, microbes, and environmental changes in real time with unprecedented accuracy, providing more reliable insights than traditional animal models for human clinical translation,” said Sesay, who also co-leads the Wyss Women’s Health Initiative.
Continuously expanding [the sensor] repertoire allows us and other scientists to observe how female reproductive tract [and other] organs respond to drugs, microbes, and environmental changes in real time with unprecedented accuracy, providing more reliable insights than traditional animal models for human clinical translation.
The recognition also reflects the broader impact Organ Chip technologies are having across biomedical research. Human Organ Chips developed at the Wyss Institute and by collaborators in industry helped demonstrate the scientific and regulatory potential of these systems, and as such gave significant momentum to the passage of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which expanded the use of non-animal human-based testing methods in drug development and regulatory evaluation.
This latest honor builds on a long history of recognition for Wyss researchers by the Lush Prize. In 2017, Core Faculty member Jennifer Lewis received the Science Prize for her team’s work developing 3D bioprinted human organ-on-chip models designed to replace animal testing. In 2016, Wyss Technology Development Fellow Kambez Benam received a Young Researcher Award for pioneering a human lung airway-on-a-chip model, and in 2018, Sasan Jalili-Firoozinezhad was honored for developing a human Intestine Chip to study radiation injury and therapeutic responses.
Together, these awards underscore the Wyss Institute’s continued leadership in advancing Organ Chip technologies and accelerating the shift toward more human-relevant, ethical, and effective approaches to biomedical research.