I-Corps: Dynamic Tissue Culture Platform for in vitro Drug Screening

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是在单层培养和用于药物测试和再生医学应用的动物研究之间引入一个过渡步骤。这一努力的结果将通过提供时间和成本效益的解决方案来克服二维单层细胞培养和动物模型的缺点，从而改变目前进行药物测试和再生医学研究的方式。该技术将细胞培养平台的多维性与自然机械环境相结合。这将减少与使用动物模型相关的动物育种和畜牧业所花费的时间和资源，而不会影响3D环境的复杂性。该技术将提高药物毒性评估的一致性、可靠性和可重复性，这也将为研究人员、科学家和制药公司节省时间和金钱。此外，该技术可以容纳各种类型的细胞封装结构；因此，它为研究机械刺激主要影响细胞功能和疾病状态的不同组织提供了很大的灵活性。I-Corps项目进一步开发了细胞在生理相关的机械环境中培养的同时，可控制的三维体外培养环境。该技术利用加载室，提供了一种创新的方法来处理和转移组织工程支架的机械应变。前期的研究为该技术在制药和再生医学相关行业的潜在应用奠定了基础。体外研究结果表明，该技术在机械载荷期间保持细胞活力，并根据施加的机械应变和频率影响干细胞的谱系承诺。这些结果对于证明其在制药和再生医学中的应用是至关重要的。在I-Corps项目中，商业假设将在客户发现访谈后进行测试和重新定义。还将确定该技术的市场需求。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project will be to introduce a transitional step between monolayer culture and animal studies for drug testing and regenerative medicine applications. The results of this effort will transform the current way of conducting drug testing and regenerative medicine studies through providing time- and cost-effective solutions to overcome the shortcomings of two-dimensional monolayer cell culture and animal models. The technology incorporates multidimensionality along with the native mechanical environment to the cell culture platform. This will reduce the time and resources spent on animal breeding and husbandry associated with using animal models without compromising the complexity of 3D environment. The technology will increase consistency, reliability, repeatability of drug toxicity assessments, which will also save time and money for researchers, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies. Further, the technology can accommodate various types of cell-encapsulated structures; thus it provides great flexibility to study different tissues in which mechanical stimuli predominantly influence the cellular functions and disease states.This I-Corps project further develops a controlled three-dimensional in vitro culture environment for cells while culturing them in physiologically relevant mechanical environment. The technology utilizes a loading chamber that provides an innovative method of handling and transfer of mechanical strains to tissue engineering scaffolds. The prior research lays the foundation of the technology's potential utilization in pharmaceutical and regenerative medicine related industries. The in vitro study results demonstrated that the technology preserves cell viability during mechanical loading and affects the lineage commitment of stem cells based on applied mechanical strain and frequency. These results are crucial to prove the concept of its utilization towards pharmaceutical and regenerative medicine applications. In the I-Corps program, the business hypothesis will be tested and redefined following customer discovery interviews. The market need for the technology will be also identified.