A device has been developed that puts 'mini-placenta' on a chip with an aim to better understand the organ's role in pregnancy. This technology can be seen in many labs across the nation.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health announced about the device on Thursday. Human cells are grown on chips, which are designed to imitate the functions of full organs. As per experts, the technology is considered to be better in accuracy level and cost effective when compared with studying human cells in dishes or carrying out animal testing.

Roberto Romero, studying placentas with the chip at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said that they are trying that before they go for animal testing, they should study placenta with the chip.

It costs around $10 to make a chip, said Romero. The NIH has plans to study the inner workings of the human placenta using technology in ways that have never been done before. Romero said that placenta found in pregnant mothers has not been studied at all.

In the study, the researchers were successful in replicating the organ. They added maternal cells from a delivered placenta on one side of the device and fetal cells from an umbilical cord on the other. The researchers then tested how substances are transferred from the two compartments.

Institutions across the nation are following up on the concept. "It's caught on because it's so visual and so meaningful. You're seeing some interdisciplinary interaction between engineering and biology. It's very moving and very powerful", said researchers.