"CELLBLOKS" - A novel 3-D liver model platform to predict human drug-induced liver injury (DILI)

“药物性肝损伤（DILI）是药物开发过程中失败的主要原因之一，也是上市后药物撤回的首要原因。需要一种更具预测性的工具来评估药物发现早期的肝毒性风险。作为动物实验的替代方法，用于安全筛选的人体细胞实验室模型正越来越多地被开发出来。细胞培养涉及在实验室条件下生长活细胞，而不使用动物，以便更好地了解身体功能，疾病或开发新药。传统上，细胞生长在二维玻璃或塑料表面，如培养皿和平板。许多部门的研究人员，包括制药行业，研究机构和大学，将传统的细胞培养用于哺乳动物细胞的生长和测试。细胞培养在许多生命科学发现中起着至关重要的作用，例如新药或疫苗的开发。然而，与活组织的真实三维（3-D）环境相比，细胞生长受限于可用的2-D表面，结果往往缺乏效率。ReVivoCell Ltd正在开发一种新的细胞培养平台，可以更好地模拟肝脏在体外环境中的功能。现有的3D细胞培养技术缺乏肝脏特异性功能，价格昂贵，难以使用，并且不容易适应不同的实验和细胞类型。该技术可能会提高开发新治疗的成功率，并减少对动物试验的依赖。本项目的目的是评估新开发的三维细胞培养平台模拟肝脏特异性微环境的可行性。ReVivoCell的发明将提供一种可靠、快速和具有成本效益的设备，可在全球范围内使用。"

"Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is one of the leading cause of drug failure during development as well as number one cause of post-market drug withdrawal. There is a need for a more predictive tools to assess liver toxicity risks early in drug discovery. Human cell based laboratory models for safety screening are increasingly being developed as alternative methods to animal testing.Cell culture involves the growth of living cells in laboratory conditions without using animals in order to gain better understanding of body function, disease or to develop new drugs. Conventionally, cells are grown in 2-D glass or plastic surfaces such as Petri-dishes and plates.Researchers across many sectors, including pharmaceutical industry, research organisations and universities apply conventional cell culture for the growth and testing of mammalian cells. Cell culture has played a vital role in many life science discoveries such as the development of new drugs or vaccines. However, the results often lack efficiency as cell growth is constrained within the available 2-D surface when compared to true three-dimensional (3-D) environments of living tissue.ReVivoCell Ltd is developing a novel cell culture platform, that can better simulate the function of the liver in an _in-vitro_ setting. Existing 3-D cell culture technologies lack liver specific functionality, are expensive, difficult to use and are not easily adaptable for different experiments and cell types.This technology would potentially increase the success rate of developing new treatments and reduce the reliance on animal testing. The objective of this project is to assess the feasibility of a newly developed 3-D cell culture platform to mimmic liver-specific microenvironment. ReVivoCell's invention will provide a reliable, fast and cost effective device that could be used worldwide."