Fertilichip: an innovative fallopian tube-on-chip model for women's reproductive health research

The Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health Office of the Director awarded $180,000 to CFD Research Corporation on September 5, 2026, under the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences program (CFDA 93.350) to develop FERTILICHIP, an innovative fallopian tube-on-chip microfluidic model for women's reproductive health research.

FERTILICHIP will be the first comprehensive, vascularized human fallopian tube in vitro model system incorporating four key cell types—secretory epithelial cells, ciliated epithelial cells, lamina propria fibroblasts, and smooth muscle cells—under physiological conditions. The platform will enable research on sexually transmitted infection-triggered pelvic inflammatory disease progression, biomarker discovery, therapeutic development, host-pathogen interactions, and hormonal responses. The model will use polydimethylsiloxane-based microfluidic devices with primary fallopian tube epithelial cells differentiated using estradiol. The project addresses a gap in current in vitro and animal models, which lack cellular complexity, physiological flow conditions, and human anatomical accuracy, while aligning with federal agency calls to reduce animal testing in favor of new approach methodologies.

Performance occurs in Huntsville, Alabama from September 5, 2026, through September 4, 2027. CFD Research, a small business headquartered in Huntsville, will self-perform the work. The assistance type is Project Grant, classified as a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant (R43).

Abstract

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a hidden crisis affecting women's reproductive health, costing the US over $4.5 billion annually, contributing to declining birth rates, and affecting approximately 750,000 american women each year. PID is triggered by sexually transmitted infections (stis) like chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), causing severe complications such as chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy, infertility, and increased ovarian/cervical cancer risk. Current treatments with antibiotics cannot reverse tissue damage or cure long-term complications due to chronic inflammation. PID remains underfunded and underdiagnosed and lacks early diagnostic tools and treatment. Current in vitro FT models lack the cellular complexity and physiological flow condition to accurately reproduce the in vivo system, and in vivo models are expensive and do not reflect human anatomy and response. Moreover, federal agencies (FDA, NIH) have called to reduce animal testing in favor of new approach methodologies (nams). We propose to develop fertilichip, an innovative FT-on-chip model to advance women's reproductive health research. The fertilichip will be the first comprehensive, vascularized human FT in-vitro model system, incorporating four key cell types under physiological conditions. This platform will enable research on STI or FT disease progression, biomarker discovery, therapeutic development, host-pathogen interactions, and hormonal responses. Four FT cell types, secretory epithelial cells (secs), ciliated epithelial cells (cecs), lamina propria fibroblasts (lpfs), and smooth muscle cells (smcs), will be utilized for the in vitro model using polydimethylsiloxane (pdms)-based microfluidic devices. Primary FT epithelial cells will be differentiated into secs and cecs using estradiol. Model development protocols will be optimized for basement membrane, media compatibility, seeding density and order, flow rates, and CT multiplicity of infection (MOI). Success metrics include ≥90% cell viability, positive biomarker identification, confirmed cilia beating function, and optimal confluency within the microfluidic devices. Healthy fertilichips will then be infected with CT to induce an early PID-like inflammation state. Infection progression will be tracked through direct CT antibody staining, and inflammatory gene expression will be monitored via RT-qpcr. Success metrics include an optimized MOI of CT that successfully infects fertilichips and produces a significant (p