Microfluidic “organ-on-a-chip” devices have been developed with the aim to replicate human tissues in vitro. However, there is no option to quantitatively monitor biological processes that take place within the chip, over time. Destructive methods in order to analyze, tissue formation, gene expression, protein secretion etc. require the harvest of the “tissue” at a certain time point. Described herein are methods and compositions for non-destructive molecular imaging methods and systems in order to quantitatively monitor specific biological processes, over time, within the chip, without the need to harvest.
