A*STAR scientists successfully grow skin on a credit-card sized device that facilitates testing of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other chemicals; Awarded the Global 3Rs Award for reducing animal use in scientific research
A*STAR scientists successfully grow skin on a credit-card sized device that facilitates testing of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other chemicals; Awarded the Global 3Rs Award for reducing animal use in scientific research
SINGAPORE, 5 NOVEMBER 2018 – Scientists from A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) and Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) have successfully reconstructed human skin on a credit-card sized device that could help to reduce or eventually replace animal testing in the pharmaceutical, toxicological, and cosmetic industries. For their significant innovation in developing this “skin-on-a-chip” solution, the team scored a Global 3Rs Award by Innovation & Quality (IQ) Consortium and the non-profit organisation, AAALAC International (www.aaalac.org), for advancing the Refinement, Replacement or Reduction of animal use in scientific research.
The device works based on microfluidics, meaning that it can process small quantities of fluids at microscale, more closely mimicking the structure, functionalities and microenvironment of human skin compared to static skin cultures that are commonly used in the industry. This allows the testing of topical creams or skincare products for absorption, safety, and permeability. Since the device is made of hard plastic, it is amenable to cost-efficient mass production, enabling this screening solution to be easily scaled up to industrially-relevant capacities.
Another unique advantage of this microfluidics-based skin-on-a-chip is that the skin cells are grown on a matrix based on the natural protein fibrin that does not contract. This overcomes the limitations of collagen-based skin equivalents typically used in conventional cell cultures, where the collagen matrix readily shrinks and creates gaps between the device and the skin, affecting the results of permeation tests.
“This skin-on-chip platform offers better skin structure and performance in terms of barrier function, compared to conventional skin reconstruction techniques,” said Dr Zhiping Wang, Principal Scientist at A*STAR’s SIMTech and lead researcher for the study. “Our solution can also facilitate downstream assays using commercially available skin equivalents or natural skin,” he added.
“The skin reconstructed in the microfluidic system exhibited enhanced maturation of the epidermis, and almost twice the epidermal thickness of standard skin equivalents. This more closely mimics the full thickness of human skin, and therefore has a higher degree of accuracy in testing chemical permeability,” said Professor Zee Upton, Covering Executive Director of A*STAR’s IMB. “To demonstrate the superior nature of the skin cultured in our platform, we performed an array of correlative tests, ranging from conventional immunostaining and chemical permeability experiments to cutting-edge bioimaging and spectroscopy,” she added.
The Global 3Rs Award was presented to the research team on October 31, 2018 during the AAALAC International luncheon held during the 69th National Meeting of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) in Baltimore, Maryland (USA). Awards are presented only to peer-reviewed papers that advance any of the 3Rs (i.e., the Refinement, Replacement or Reduction of animal use). Receiving the Global 3Rs Award proves that Singapore can lead the way for the global scientific community in the field of safety testing and non-animal alternative models.
The study was published in peer-reviewed journal Materials Today in May 2018 under the title of “Full-thickness human skin-on-chip with enhanced epidermal morphogenesis and barrier function”.
Link to online version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
For more information about the 3Rs award, please visit:
https://www.aaalac.org/news/
To view the list of 2018 award winners, please visit:
https://www.aaalac.org/news/
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Notes to Editor:
The research findings described in this media advisory can be found in the scientific journal Materials Today, under the title “Full-thickness human skin-on-chip with enhanced epidermal morphogenesis and barrier function” by Gopu Sriram1,2#, Massimo Alberti3#, Yuri Dancik1,4#, Bo Wu3, Ruige Wu3, Zhaoxu Feng3, Srinivas Ramasamy1, Paul Lorenz Bigliardi1,5*, Mei Bigliardi-Qi1,5*, Zhiping Wang3*.
- Experimental Dermatology Laboratory, Institute of Medical Biology, A*STAR, 8a Biomedical Grove, #06-06, Singapore 138648, Singapore
- Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore, 11 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119083, Singapore
- Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, A*STAR, 2 Fusionopolis Way, Level 10, Innovis, Singapore 138634, Singapore
- Clinical Research Unit for Skin, Allergy and Regeneration, Institute of Medical Biology, A*STAR, 8a Biomedical Grove, #06-06, Singapore 138648, Singapore
- National University of Singapore NUS, YLL School of Medicine & National University Hospital Singapore NUHS, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119074, Singapore
# These authors contributed equally as first authors.
* These authors contributed equally as supervising authors.
Corresponding authors: Massimo Alberti and Zhiping Wang.
Information in “Notes to Editor” correct as of date of online publishing, 6 Dec 2017.
For media queries, please contact:
Mr Robin Chan
Assistant Head, Corporate Communications
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
Tel: +65 6826 6281
Email: robin_chan@hq.a-star.edu.sg
About Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech)
The Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) develops high-value manufacturing technology and human capital to contribute to the competitiveness of the Singapore industry. It collaborates with multinational and local companies in the precision engineering, medical technology, aerospace, automotive, marine, oil & gas, electronics, semiconductor, logistics and other sectors.
SIMTech is a research institute of the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). With a pool of more than 450 researchers, we are committed to serving the manufacturing industry to develop the human, intellectual and industrial capital in Singapore.
For more information, please visit: www.SIMTech.a-star.edu.sg.
About A*STAR’s Institute of Medical Biology (IMB)
IMB is one of the Biomedical Sciences Institutes of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). It was formed in 2007, with a mission to study mechanisms of human disease in order to discover new and effective therapeutic strategies for improved quality of life.
IMB has 20 research teams working in three primary focus areas - stem cells, genetic disease, and skin biology. The teams work closely with clinical collaborators as well as industry partners, to target the challenging interface between basic science and clinical medicine. IMB’s strategic research topics are targeted at translational research to understand the mechanisms of human disease so as to identify new strategies for disease amelioration, cure and eradication and to improve health and wellbeing. Since 2011, IMB has also hosted the inter-research institute Skin Biology Cluster platform, and leads major strategic funding programs in rare genetic diseases and in skin biology. In 2013, IMB became a founding institute of the Skin Research Institute of Singapore. For more information about IMB, please visit www.imb.a-star.edu.sg.
About the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is Singapore’s lead public sector agency that spearheads economic oriented research to advance scientific discovery and develop innovative technology. Through open innovation, we collaborate with our partners in both the public and private sectors to benefit society.
As a Science and Technology Organisation, A*STAR bridges the gap between academia and industry. Our research creates economic growth and jobs for Singapore, and enhances lives by contributing to societal benefits such as improving outcomes in healthcare, urban living, and sustainability.
We play a key role in nurturing and developing a diversity of talent and leaders in our Agency and research entities, the wider research community and industry. A*STAR’s R&D activities span biomedical sciences and physical sciences and engineering, with research entities primarily located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis. For ongoing news, visit www.a-star.edu.sg.
