Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PROMETEO (PRoduction of an innOvative Millifluidic dEvice for TEsting of new prObiotics)
Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-03-31
Over the last decades, the gut intestinal microflora and other microbial communities present in our body raised a strong interest in the health research domain as it was discovered their possible relation to the pathophysiology of major organs and systems. Gut epithelial cells, together with our resident microbiota, are involved in the modulation of the host immune system and represent the first line of adsorption of drugs and nutraceuticals. In parallel to microbiota studies, a great effort has been devoted to assess the role of the “probiotics”, live microorganisms that, administered in adequate amounts, are able to confer a benefit to the host health.
Probiotics are currently widely used in the prevention/treatment of many diseases. One critical point that is still an issue in the characterisation of new potential probiotics is the difficulty in mimicking with high reliability the gut microenvironment condition using animal models or the current in vitro tools, poorly representative of the real in vivo situation.
This gap motivates the need for the development of alternative research tools, such as the fluidic devices, to study the mechanisms at play in human gut microenvironment and contribute to the success rate of expensive, risky and time-consuming pre-clinical and clinical trials.
In this frame, our PROMETEO project aims to perform the technical and commercial feasibility of an integrated probiotic/gut epithelium/immune system millifluidic platform, based on a patented organ-on-a-chip technological device, providing the basis for a new generation of innovative solutions for probiotics/drug development.
PROMETEO has been run by a consortium between Politecnico di Milano and AAT-Advanced Analytical Technologies, an innovative SME specialized in promoting innovation in the probiotic sector, thus combining a solid technological expertise and an in-depth knowledge of the market.
Probiotics are currently widely used in the prevention/treatment of many diseases. One critical point that is still an issue in the characterisation of new potential probiotics is the difficulty in mimicking with high reliability the gut microenvironment condition using animal models or the current in vitro tools, poorly representative of the real in vivo situation.
This gap motivates the need for the development of alternative research tools, such as the fluidic devices, to study the mechanisms at play in human gut microenvironment and contribute to the success rate of expensive, risky and time-consuming pre-clinical and clinical trials.
In this frame, our PROMETEO project aims to perform the technical and commercial feasibility of an integrated probiotic/gut epithelium/immune system millifluidic platform, based on a patented organ-on-a-chip technological device, providing the basis for a new generation of innovative solutions for probiotics/drug development.
PROMETEO has been run by a consortium between Politecnico di Milano and AAT-Advanced Analytical Technologies, an innovative SME specialized in promoting innovation in the probiotic sector, thus combining a solid technological expertise and an in-depth knowledge of the market.
The performed activities and the related main outcomes are described below.
A set of PROMETEO devices has been obtained. The probiotic/gut epithelium cell-based model has been hosted in the device and implemented according to AAT previous experience and testing conditions. The device design and fluid-dynamic parameters has been then tuned to cope with AAT culturing and testing protocols (Task 1: Technical feasibility).
The probiotic/gut epithelium device has been validated by performing two selected AAT certified adhesion tests in the PROMETEO device and comparing the results with the ones obtained by AAT standard procedure, Subsequently, a qualitatively upgrade of the same tests by embedding the probiotics in a 3D environment using our new gut mucus model have been checked. (Task 2: Field Testing Operations Feasibility).
Once validated, the device has been exploited to obtain the PROMETEO platform multi-organ configuration by connecting the probiotic/gut epithelium device with an immune system device, hosting an in vitro immune cell model based on AAT standard protocols. The platform has then been challenged by evaluating simultaneously the gut epithelium and immune system response to probiotic exposure at the cellular and molecular level (Task 3: Upgrade of the PROMETEO validated device in the multiorgan platform).
A set of PROMETEO devices has been obtained. The probiotic/gut epithelium cell-based model has been hosted in the device and implemented according to AAT previous experience and testing conditions. The device design and fluid-dynamic parameters has been then tuned to cope with AAT culturing and testing protocols (Task 1: Technical feasibility).
The probiotic/gut epithelium device has been validated by performing two selected AAT certified adhesion tests in the PROMETEO device and comparing the results with the ones obtained by AAT standard procedure, Subsequently, a qualitatively upgrade of the same tests by embedding the probiotics in a 3D environment using our new gut mucus model have been checked. (Task 2: Field Testing Operations Feasibility).
Once validated, the device has been exploited to obtain the PROMETEO platform multi-organ configuration by connecting the probiotic/gut epithelium device with an immune system device, hosting an in vitro immune cell model based on AAT standard protocols. The platform has then been challenged by evaluating simultaneously the gut epithelium and immune system response to probiotic exposure at the cellular and molecular level (Task 3: Upgrade of the PROMETEO validated device in the multiorgan platform).
The in vitro approach proposed by PROMETEO and its technological tool have an innovation potential at several levels.
From a scientific and technological point of view, PROMETEO allows to perform different/multiple tests that, in case of conventional approaches, should be performed in different analytical runs, with a significant reduction in time and costs, and can be applied to a wide range of bacteria, not only probiotics, to assess their impact on human health.
From an economic point of view, PROMETEO has the potential to innovate current in vitro models and microbiological domains, being a cost-effective and high-performance technological tool able to reproduce key features of the in vivo environment.
From the social/healthcare viewpoint, the validation of the PROMETEO device confirms its expected role in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical sectors, giving tools to alleviate severe and even chronic diseases, thus reducing the social burden, otherwise expected to increase due to the aging of the population.
From a scientific and technological point of view, PROMETEO allows to perform different/multiple tests that, in case of conventional approaches, should be performed in different analytical runs, with a significant reduction in time and costs, and can be applied to a wide range of bacteria, not only probiotics, to assess their impact on human health.
From an economic point of view, PROMETEO has the potential to innovate current in vitro models and microbiological domains, being a cost-effective and high-performance technological tool able to reproduce key features of the in vivo environment.
From the social/healthcare viewpoint, the validation of the PROMETEO device confirms its expected role in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical sectors, giving tools to alleviate severe and even chronic diseases, thus reducing the social burden, otherwise expected to increase due to the aging of the population.