Bhushan Research GroupBiomedical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology

We engineer microphysiological systems and biosensors to understand how living tissue responds to microbes, nutrients and drugs

Our microfluidic platforms, organ-on-chip models and sensors let us control, perturb and measure living biology with high spatial and temporal resolution.

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Led by Abhinav Bhushan, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology.

Cross-section of a two-compartment organ-on-chip: tissue in the upper channel, a perfused channel carrying microbes below, and a porous membrane between them Fluorescence image of colorectal cancer organoids Fluorescence image of organoids
A cross-section of the two-compartment chips we build: tissue above, a perfused channel below, a porous membrane between. Alongside, organoids imaged in the lab.

Latest from the lab

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Engineer, model, measure

We build reusable engineering platforms and apply them to questions where spatial control and measurement over time matter.

How we work
A small transparent microfluidic chip held in a palm next to a quarter

Engineer

Microfluidic and organ-on-chip platforms that set the conditions living tissue experiences.

Fluorescence image of multicellular spheroids

Model

Human tissues and organoids, grown alone or with microbes.

Diagram of on-chip albumin sensing: cells in a culture chamber feed antibody-coated beads that give a measurement over time

Measure

Continuous on-chip sensors that track what tissue secretes, such as albumin and cholesterol, over time.

Where we apply the platforms

All research
Brightfield image of an organoid with fluorescent bacteria nearby

Microbes and colorectal cancer

Colon organoids and chips that host living bacteria, to test how bile acids and microbial metabolites change tumor epithelium.

Colon and microbiome projects
Fluorescence image of adipocytes cultured on a chip

Liver–fat crosstalk

Linked adipose and liver tissues on chip for studying insulin resistance and fatty liver disease in human cells.

Liver and adipose projects
Fluorescence image of bacteria colonizing intestinal cells

Microbiome and drug response

Intestine chips and pharmacokinetic models of how gut bacteria alter drug absorption and metabolism.

Drug response projects

Recent publications

  1. 2026

    Bile salts and bacterial bile salt hydrolase activity differentially influence Escherichia coli colonization and FXR signaling in colorectal cancer organoids

    Dasgupta I, Brevi A, Ma Y, Rangineni DP, Duran M, Zarrinpar A, Bhushan A

    Annals of Biomedical Engineering

  2. 2024

    Bacterial influence on pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus and sulfasalazine through regulation of host metabolism

    Cooper D, Bhushan A

    Advanced Therapeutics, 7(8)

  3. 2024

    Engineered bacterial therapeutics for detecting and treating CRC

    Siguenza N, Brevi A, Zhang JT, Pabani A, Bhushan A, Das M, Ding Y, Hasty J, Ghosh P, Zarrinpar A

    Trends in Cancer, 10(7): 588–597

All publications

On video

Illinois Tech News story on our colon chip
Lab members sharing a meal together

Join the lab

We welcome PhD, master's and undergraduate researchers who want to work where engineering, biology and computation meet, in a lab built on academic freedom and room to follow your own scientific curiosity.

See open positions Meet the team