Platform Technology to Enhance the Growth of Human Tissues In Vitro for Use in Biomedical Research and the Assessment of New Molecular Entities.

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Testing the activity of molecules prior to human use is an essential step in the development of new drugs. Currently it is very challenging to evaluate compound activity and toxicity in human tissues directly due to the lack of appropriate test systems. In-vitro biomedical tests on human cells are possible using conventional two-dimensional (2D) cell culture techniques however the assays do not represent the true activity of molecules in real tissues. Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture radically improves cell structure and function enabling the formation of tissue-like constructs. This project involves the design of an innovative approach to combining 3D cell culture technology and the development of a novel bioreactor to maintain human tissues for biomedical assays. This is an interdisciplinary project drawing on expertise in biomedicine, chemistry and engineering. The mode of perfusion within the bioreactor will be informed by data from fluid dynamic simulations to control media flow. The bioreactor will incorporate oxygen control mechanisms. We hypothesise that our design will extend the viability of tissue models for chronic exposure studies and the testing new compounds. We will demonstrate its application of aged human skin models to examine the chronic effect of new senolytic molecules to enhance skin quality during ageing.