Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SeCtOR ENABleRs (Standard Collagenous ORgans-on-chip ENvisaging Advanced Biological Researches)
Reporting period: 2017-09-01 to 2019-08-31
Sector Enablers had two main goals: one purely scientific/technological and one more related to explore and learn how an innovative product is conceived and reach the market. The scientific goal of Sector Enabler was to design, test and bring to the market a microfluidic chip containing provided of canals mimicking one main artery and two veins. The concept, based on several evidences and results present in literature, was to use biomimetic collagenous formulations able to induce the differentiation of different population of stem cells in a pre-vascularized hydrogel. The channels were designed to be immediately perfused by medium and endothelial cells and were serving as the structure from which neovascularization will originate and further penetrate within the hydrogel itself. The importance of culturing cells in 3D, as well as the positive effects of a dynamic perfusion have demonstrated to produce more relevant and reliable results and is nowadays recognized by the whole scientific community. In the last twenty years the costs associated to drug development have constantly increased. What is nowadays clear is that the traditional in vitro and in vivo models used during the preclinical trials are surpassed by other approaches. If this is true for most of the “traditional” therapeutic approach, this is much true for new therapeutic approaches like the immunotherapy where there is often a complete lack of in vitro models to predict the safety and efficacy of new molecules or engineered cells. Helping the scientific and pharmacological industry in moving into more robust and predictive in vitro models can have a huge impact for many patients waiting for more effective and safer treatments. The possibility to early detect potential clinical trial failure have also enormous advantages both for patients testing the new compounds as well as for the companies sponsoring them. The personal objectives of the ER described in Sector Enablers were broader than the mere scientific plan described above. In terms of personal achievements the ER had planned to increase several soft skills that were needed to boost his career. Those skills were including more general skills such as management of projects, human resource management, leadership but were also including a whole set of new skills that cannot be easily learn in the academic environment. Whereas indeed entrepreneurship and innovation can be easily studied in any NBA classes, when it turns to apply those rules in the real world is another story make of infinite shades of grays and that can be learned only by failing, analyzing the errors, adjust the strategy, repeating again. The main aim of the ER at the beginning of Sector Enabler was to have a deep dive into an innovative SME to understand the needs of the industrial world in order to establish in future more productive collaborations between European academic excellence and innovative European SME.
During the project implementation I could live the full cycle of innovation from the start up perspective. I learn how to identify common bottlenecks by performing interviews with final end users and to assess markets in order to predict the viability of a new product. I was taught of many possible strategies to identify the needs of the markets and how to apply the design thinking in order to meet the market expectations. During the developments of the microfluidic chips I learned more about the advantages and the limits of this technology: both in terms of usability and features as well as the current microfabrication processes and limits. My technical expertise have broaden much further than my expectations. Part of this valuable experience has taught me how important is to enter in contact with end users as soon as possible to refine the products and to make it as robust as possible. I could “touch” with my end the problem related to the daily activity of a start up as well as the advantages of being in a relatively light and agile structure. The action was promoted on a dedicated page on the company website as well as trough the company social media. In all the public events (i.e. conferences, meeting with other companies, symposiums at university...etc) the project and the support of the European commission was duly mentioned. In particular the support of the European Horizon-2020 was highlighted during meeting with national and European level decision makers.
While The European Commission has in the past decades invested significant amount of money to sustain excellence in research and to push those results in the innovation pipeline the overall competitiveness of the European SME/Start-up is still struggling in the competition toward innovation with the US. I had the opportunity to move for two years between the academic environment and SME/Start-up environment and I have clear in mind the difficulties of translating research into innovation especially in Europe where private investments are much difficult to achieve in comparison to US. There is a clear need to have a more organic cooperation and mutual acknowledge between academic world on the private sector. The opportunity given to Sector Enabler produced two different chips, one is already on the market and used by CherryBiotech clients while the second one has the potentialities to solve the problem of vascularization inside organs on chip models. This latest new chip is composed of materials that do not interact (absorb) drugs, is extremely cheap and easy to use especially in combination with a new product developed by CherryBiotech. The combination of the chip with CubiX might allow scientists to build a relevant model to simulate the behaviour of white blood cells during the passage from the circulatory system towards tumours and thus bridge a gap in developing relevant in vitro models to test immunotherapies. If that will be the case it is expected that the development of new therapies based on immunooncology approach will receive a significant boost. The adoption of organs on chip in the pharma pipeline is still far from being achieved given that changing the protocols is extremely costly but the current constrains of the new immunoocology approach (i.e. the lack of suitable animal models) can represent a real opportunity to drive the change and the adoption of Organs on chip technology. In this view I cannot foresee a direct and short term impact on the society since too many factors are in the equation. Anyway if the solution designed in Sector Enabler will be part of the puzzle the investment made by the MSCA IF action will be more than compensated considering the enormous impact that those new therapies might bring in fighting cancers in an aging population. On my side this great experience offered by the MSCA IF has leave a significant impact that I will always try to pass to the new generations of scientists as done in the talks I gave in the university or as supervisors of other MSCA-IFs, MSCA-ITN students and interns. I am deeply convinced that the soon the new researchers are exposed to the point of view of the private sector the more the number and chances of successful companies will be in Europe.