Business opportunity
Scientists at the University of Oslo (Norway) have developed an innovative, scalable directional pump-less perfusion (dPP) organ-on-a-chip (OoC) platform that can transport cell culture media, circulating cells, bacteria and nanoparticles in a closed microfluidic circuit to interconnect different organ models.
Inven2 AS seeks investor/partners for establishing of a start-up or out-licensing of the IP.
Technology description
The group has developed a scalable, pump-less OoC device that generates a unidirectional, gravity-driven flow. Flow rate and oxygen levels for a venous and an arterial channel can be tuned “on-chip”. This structure allows vascularization of 3D organ models and possibly self-organisation in the future. The scientific group has established lab-scale fabrication, has shown proof-of-concept for several biological applications and advantages of the platform compared to state of the art.
A HUVEC cells cultivated in tilting chip with enhanced alignment (triple staining with: blue – Hoechst (cell core), green – actin (cytoskeleton), red – VE-cadherin (tight junctions)); B: dPP platform with two perfusion channels and central organoid chamber; C: Liver organoid cultivated in the device (triple staining: green – albumin (liver cells), red – CD31 (ES), blue- DAPI (cell nuclei))
Advantages
| · Easy to use | · Directional flow |
| · Air bubbles free | · High reproducibility |
| · Low cost per device | · No artificial membrane |
| · No pumps and no tubes needed | · Fits in incubator and microscopes |
| · Adjustable volume, flow, geometry |
The dPP platform together with the scientist’s profound knowledge in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology can be a game changer in the OoC field as it allows different studies from disease modelling to patient-specific drug testing.
IPR
A patent application has been filed.
