Microfabrication techniques such as 3D printing, have enabled the synthesis of highly specialised and controlled microchips with well-defined chemical and physical environments. The integration of such chips with modern cell culture techniques has created
a new way to mimic the in vivo. Growing excitement around these microphysiological models of human organs on microfluidic cell culture chips has led to a marked interest and investment in such technologies, yet many challenges remain ahead,
not least of all scalability and adaptation for high throughput screening. Join us for Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Inaugural Organ-on-a-Chip and MicroPhysiological Systems symposium, where this promising preclinical
model will be explored and evaluated, where future steps towards more accurate and reliable preclinical trials will be taken.
Recommended All Access Package:
27 November: Organ-on-a-Chip and MicroPhysiological Systems
27 November Dinner Course: SC3: The Origins, Optimization and Application of Organ-on-a-Chip Systems
28-29 November: Optimizing Leads and Predicting Drug Toxicity
29-30 November: 3D Cellular Models
29 November Dinner Course: SC5: Humanized Mouse Models: Technology and Applications in Preclinical Assessment of Cancer Immunotherapy
Tuesday 27 November
7:00 Registration and Morning Coffee
8:20 Welcome Remarks
Joel Hornby, BSc, Conference Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute
8:25 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
James J. Hickman PhD, Professor, NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida
8:30 Stem Cell Based MicroPhysiological Organ-on-a-Chip Systems as in vitro Models of Human Tissue with Physiological Structure and Function
Peter Loskill, PhD, Assistant Professor for Experimental Regenerative Medicine, Department of Women’s Health, Research Institute for Women’s Health, Faculty of Medicine, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen
Drug discovery and development to date has relied on animal models, which fail to resemble human physiology. The discovery of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) has led to the emergence of a new paradigm of drug screening using patient- and
disease-specific organ/tissue-models. One promising approach is the organ-on-a-chip system that integrates hiPSC-derived tissues in microphysiological environments and combines human genetic background, in vivo-like
tissue structure, physiological functionality, and “vasculature-like” perfusion.
9:00 Lung Alveolar Models Based on Organs-on-Chip Technologies
Olivier Guenat, PhD, Head Organs-on-Chip Technologies, ARTORG Center, University of Bern
Organs-on-chips are able to recapitulate the in vivo cellular environment in unprecedented way and are widely expected to better predict drug’s response in humans than standard in vitro models. We will present several lung-on-chip models using primary cells from patients that closely recapitulate the cellular environment of the lung parenchyma. These functional models, which mimic the lung alveolar barrier as well as the lung microvasculature,
are used to evaluate the effects of various compounds used for respiratory diseases, such as pulmonary fibrosis.
9:30 Development of Organ-on-a-Chip Systems for Disease Modeling In the Vasculature, Liver & Gut
Matthew Lech, ScM., Senior Scientist, Inflammation & Immunology
Research Unit, Pfizer
The current drug development process results in many clinical trial failures due, in part, to poor translation from early stage development with simple in vitro assays through in vivo preclinical models which do to properly replicate human disease. Companies
can do little to recover the effort and cost associated with a clinical trial failure. We are developing three human organ-on-a-chip systems for improved drug development; the liver, vasculature and gut.
10:00 Coffee Break
10:30 Building Phenotypic Body-on-a-Chip Models for Preclinical Toxicological and Efficacy Evaluations Utilizing Stem Cell Derived Disease Models
James J. Hickman, PhD, Professor, NanoScience Technology Center, University
of Central Florida
The utilization of human-on-a-chip systems that incorporate iPSCs allows for understanding different disease states by constructing them utilizing patient cells. We are constructing systems in serum-free medium with functional readouts that employs a
pumpless platform. Our group has been constructing these systems with up to 6 organs and demonstrated up to 28 days evaluation of drugs and compounds, that have shown similar response to results seen from clinical data or literature reports.
11:00 Emulating the Gut-Liver Axis - Organ-on-Chip in Preclinical Research
Alexander S. Mosig, PhD, Assistant Professor, Center for Sepsis Control and Care, Jena University Hospital
To investigate the mechanism of infection-related organ dysfunction we developed a microfluidically perfused model of the human gut-liver axis. The in vitro model comprises tissue resident and circulating immune cells
to emulate essential components of the human immune system. Biochip-integrated sensors allow continuous monitoring of environmental conditions and allow quantification of tissue integrity. A synthetic microbiome is being integrated to emulate
microbiome-host interaction under physiological and pathophysiological conditions.
11:30 Enjoy Lunch on Your Own
TRANSLATIONAL AND APPLIED SYSTEMS
13:25 Chairperson’s Remarks
Peter Loskill, PhD, Assistant Professor for Experimental Regenerative Medicine, Department of Women’s Health, Research Institute for Women’s Health, Faculty of Medicine, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen
13:30 Modeling Rare Diseases with Organs-on-Chips
Danilo A. Tagle, MS, PhD, Associate Director for Special Initiatives,
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health
Developing drugs for rare diseases can be challenging due to the small, heterogeneous patient populations, few disease experts and expert centers, variable and long time-frames for disease progression, a poor understanding of disease natural history,
and a lack of prior clinical studies. Recent technological advances, particularly in the area of organs-on-chips and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have created opportunities to create a paradigm shift in therapy development, especially
in the area of rare disease research.
14:00 Reducing Attrition in Drug Discovery through the Use of Human Translational Cellular Models
Wendy Rowan, PhD, FRSB, Associate GSK Fellow, Scientific Leader Target
Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline
Preclinical efficacy and toxicology data derived from in vitro and animal models often fails to translate to clinical trials, resulting in high rates of attrition and falling Research and Development productivity.
The development of more predictive human in vitro systems represents one of the most urgent challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry. In a fast moving field, advances in bioengineering are showing the potential
for transforming the outcome of drug discovery.
14:30 Maximizing the Impact of MicroPhysiological Systems with in vitro-in vivo Translation
Murat Cirit, PhD, Director, Biological Engineering, MIT
Microphysiological systems (MPS) hold promise for improving therapeutic drug approval rates by providing more physiological, human-based, in vitro assays for preclinical drug development activities compared to traditional
in vitro and animal models. The full impact of MPS technologies will be realized only when robust approaches for in vitro-in vivo (MPS-to-human)
translation are developed and utilized and explain how the burgeoning field of quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) can fill that need.
15:00 Refreshment Break
15:30 Credibility/Validity of Complex in vitro Models: Crowdsourcing Strategies to Facilitate Acceptance and Use
Sofia Batista Leite, PhD, Scientific/Technical Project Officer, Chemical
Safety and Alternative Methods, ECVAM, European Commission – Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC)
Complex in vitro models aim to represent higher-level anatomical and physiological aspects of human biology. Combined with their fast developing technology, these models are very attractive to multiple research and
regulatory areas. Further implementation could be achieved by establishing a standardized framework for their assessment. More than 500 people responded to an EURL-ECVAM survey sharing their opinion on if/how such framework should/could be established.
The survey results will be presented.
16:00 A Human Heart-Liver Platform to Study Acute and Chronic Cardiotoxicity upon Hepatic Biotransformation
Anne Riu, PhD, Project Manager, Research and Innovation, L’Oréal
Regulation of cosmetic testing has spurred efforts to develop new methods for systemic toxicity, however, in vitro assays are often lacking xenobiotic metabolism. A heart-liver system was developed to study metabolism-dependent
cardiotoxicity combining functional cardiac and metabolically competent hepatic modules maintained under flow for 14 days. The system was characterized with a set of reference compounds and then evaluated with cosmetic ingredients.
16:30 GUT ON-A-CHIP: Intestinal barrier model for studying host microbe-immune responses
Evita van de Steeg, PhD, Senior Scientist, Human Biology & Microbiology, TNO Pharma Leiden
The majority of screening and predictive models do not reflect the physiology of the human intestinal tract properly, resulting in low translational value to the clinical situation. We were able to fix human intestinal tissue in a microfluidic
chip and maintain its functionality under physiological conditions for 24h. The new 3D printed chip is easy to use and will provide us with a higher throughput system.
17:00 Close of Symposium
18:00 – 20:30 Recommended Dinner Short Course*
SC3: The Origins, Optimization and Application of Organ-on-a-Chip Systems
* Separate registration required.