Draper, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, signed a tissue model development deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb. The companies will collaborate on developing a unique liver tissue model to screen drugs for toxicity.
Draper, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, signed a tissue model development deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb. The companies will collaborate on developing a unique liver tissue model to screen drugs for toxicity.
Draper will use its Human Organ Systems (HOS) platform to generate a liver model for Bristol-Myers Squibb to perform toxicity testing.
The HOS platform was developed by the company’s Biomedical Solutions division, which is made up of three areas, Human Organ Systems, Precision Medicine and Biomedical Devices. The HOS platform is a microenvironment designed to sustain human tissue organ models for several weeks while they undergo automated assays. The company will array 96 independent single organ models in a high-throughput fashion as part of its PREDICT-96 HOS platform.
“The aim of our HOS microenvironment is to recapitulate human tissues, allowing researchers to measure tissue function more accurately and more quickly than in traditional preclinical models,” stated Joseph L. Charest, head of HOS and in vitro model systems at Draper.
The scalable HOS platform has also been dubbed organ-on-a-chip technology, which allows scientists to test a range of drug dosages simultaneously. The PREDICT-96 comes with 192 microfluidic pumps that precisely control flow and has built-in electrical sensors that collect real-time data.
The PREDICT-96 system is being used by Draper and its partners to develop and validate tissue models of gut, intestine, lung, liver, vasculature, kidney, blood-brain barrier, tumor and gingival tissue. It is also being used to evaluate immuno-oncology therapies.
Draper is a not-for-profit engineering innovation company. It takes on projects from concept to field systems, designing, developing and deploying advanced technology for clients’ problems. It provides engineering services directly to the government, commercial companies and academia, working as a prime contractor or subcontractor. It also collaborates in consortia.
Earlier this month, Draper’s researchers showed a laboratory method for testing how well immune checkpoint inhibitors work in disrupting tumor tissue immunoinhibitory behavior. The device, about the size of a quarter, keeps biopsy tissue viable for at least 72 hours while tests are performed.
The research was published in May in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials. Ashley Beckwith, a Draper Fellow and Ph.D. candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), led the design and development under the direction of Draper and MIT. Beckwith used novel fabrication techniques to manufacture the device, including a 3D printer and commercially available printable resin.
“Being able to 3D-print a microfluidic platform that can facilitate biomedical analyses enables us to overcome barriers in design and fabrication of such devices without compromising system capability,” Beckwith stated. “Through the successful implementation of this printed device to address relevant medical needs, we hope to demonstrate the potential for additive manufacturing to advance the field of microfluidics.”
The resin used was the type utilized in dental applications. The device can be 3D printed in approximately an hour. It has three cylindrical “chimneys” that stick out, which are used as input sites and fluid drains. The fluids used can be immune cells or immunotherapeutics and imaging techniques can be used to visualize how the tissue responds to treatments.
