Pudding Seminar: Rachana Achary (SCR), 'In vitro organ models: studying biology with electronics'

Animal testing has long been the default way to study human biology and disease, yet it often fails to accurately predict how real human tissues behave. In-vitro organ models — laboratory-grown systems that mimic the structure and function of human organs — offer a powerful alternative, but they come with a major challenge: how do we measure what living tissues are doing over time without disturbing them?

Bioelectronics provides a solution. By integrating soft, tissue-compatible electronic devices directly into in-vitro organ models, we can continuously monitor how cells grow, communicate, and respond to drugs or environmental changes. These bioelectronic interfaces allow us to “listen” to tissues in real time, capturing functional signals that would otherwise be invisible.

In this talk, I will show how bioelectronics is being used to transform in-vitro organ models into dynamic, quantitative platforms that can reduce and aim to ultimately replace animal testing. I will discuss how these systems enable more human-relevant measurements, allow long-term studies that are difficult in animals, and open new ways of understanding organ behaviour. More broadly, the talk will explore how merging electronics with living systems is reshaping experimental biology and changing how we evaluate safety, disease, and therapeutic interventions.

Dr Rachana Acharya is a Materials scientist and currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge. She started her academic journey as a metallurgical and materials engineer at VNIT Nagpur in India and completed her Masters in Materials Science and Engineering from UCLA, USA. She then moved to the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany where conducted research with Dr. Hagen Klauk on organic thin-film transistors. She has a PhD in Chemistry and Materials Science from the University of Stuttgart. Since 2022, she has been working with Prof. Roisin Owens in the field of bioelectronics. Dr. Acharya has multidisciplinary research interests in materials science, electronic device physics and cell biology and is currently developing versatile bioelectronic devices for understanding cell behaviour and building in vitro organ models.

All staff, students, and senior members are very warmly invited to attend the Pudding Seminars. Talks usually last between 20-25 minutes, followed by time for questions, comments and discussion before we finish at 1.50pm, to allow people to get to 2pm appointments. Please note that coffee and cake will be available from 1 o'clock with the seminar starting promptly at 1.15pm. Details of all our seminars can be found at: https://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/research/pudding-seminars/forthcoming-pudding-seminars/