Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Reporter
Laboratory
NIH-Funded Tissue Chips would Predict Drug Safety
Published: Friday, August 31, 2012
Last Updated: Friday, August 31, 2012
Researchers from Cornell University will develop microphysiological modules to model the nervous, circulatory and gastrointestinal tract systems.
Cornell’s Michael Shuler has received National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to make 3-D chips with living cells and tissues that model the structure and function of human organs and help predict drug safety.
Shuler, the James and Marsha McCormick Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and James Hickman of the University of Central Florida (UCF) jointly received one of 17 NIH grants for tissue chip projects.
Shuler and Hickman’s grant of approximately $9 million over five years includes subcontracts to UCF, RegenMed, GE, Sanford-Burnham and Walter Reed Army Institute. It will support their work in microphysiological systems with functional readouts for drug candidate analysis during preclinical testing.
The researchers also plan to build a 10-organ system designed to be low-cost yet highly functional to use in drug discovery, toxicity and preclinical studies.
With the funds, the NIH is supporting bio-engineered devices that will be functionally relevant and will accurately reflect the complexity of a particular tissue, including genomic diversity, disease complexity and pharmacological response.
The NIH tissue chip projects will be tested with compounds known to be safe or toxic in humans to help identify the most reliable drug safety signals — ultimately advancing research to help predict the safety of drugs in a faster, more cost-effective way.
The initiative marks the first interagency collaboration, with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, launched by the NIH’s recently created National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The NIH plans to commit up to $70 million over five years to the program
NIH Funds Development of Tissue Chips to Help Predict Drug Safety
Published: Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 25, 2012
DARPA and FDA to collaborate on therapeutic development initiative.
Seventeen National Institutes of Health grants are aimed at creating 3-D chips with living cells and tissues that accurately model the structure and function of human organs such as the lung, liver and heart.
Once developed, these tissue chips will be tested with compounds known to be safe or toxic in humans to help identify the most reliable drug safety signals – ultimately advancing research to help predict the safety of potential drugs in a faster, more cost-effective way.
The initiative marks the first interagency collaboration launched by the NIH’s recently created National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).
Tissue chips merge techniques from the computer industry with modern tissue engineering by combining miniature models of living organ tissues on a transparent microchip.
Ranging in size from a quarter to a house key, the chips are lined with living cells and contain features designed to replicate the complex biological functions of specific organs.
NIH’s newly funded Tissue Chip for Drug Screening initiative is the result of collaborations that focus the resources and ingenuity of the NIH, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
NIH’s Common Fund and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke led the trans-NIH efforts to establish the program. The NIH plans to commit up to $70 million over five years for the program.
“Serious adverse effects and toxicity are major obstacles in the drug development process,” said Thomas R. Insel, M.D., NCATS acting director.
Insel continued, “With innovative tools and methodologies, such as those developed by the tissue chip program, we may be able to accelerate the process by which we identify compounds likely to be safe in humans, saving time and money, and ultimately increasing the quality and number of therapies available for patients.”
More than 30 percent of promising medications have failed in human clinical trials because they are determined to be toxic despite promising pre-clinical studies in animal models.
Tissue chips, which are a newer human cell-based approach, may enable scientists to predict more accurately how effective a therapeutic candidate would be in clinical studies.
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