For as long as cancer has been studied, its deadliest act — the migration of malignant cells through the bloodstream to colonize distant organs — has resisted clear observation in human tissue. In August 2026, researchers at Columbia Engineering announced a multi-organ chip, small enough to hold in one hand, that replicates this journey using actual human bone and lung tissue grown from stem cells. The device does not merely simulate metastasis; it makes visible a process responsible for two-thirds of all cancer deaths, offering science something it has long lacked: a human mirror in which to
Columbia engineers develop first multi-organ chip to model cancer metastasis in human tissue
Metastasis is responsible for at least two-thirds of cancer deaths, representing a major source of cancer mortality globally.