IN-CYTES A HIGH-DENSITY MICROELECTRODE ARRAY PLATFORM FOR LARGE-SCALE INTRACELLULAR FUNCTIONAL ASSAYS

Información del proyecto

In-Cytes

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 861712

DOI

10.3030/861712

Proyecto cerrado

Fecha de la firma de la CE 9 Agosto 2019

Fecha de inicio 15 Octubre 2019

Fecha de finalización 14 Enero 2021

Financiado con arreglo a

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Coste total

€ 135 500,00

Aportación de la UE

€ 135 500,00

Coordinado por

MAXWELL BIOSYSTEMS AG
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - In-Cytes (IN-CYTES A HIGH-DENSITY MICROELECTRODE ARRAY PLATFORM FOR LARGE-SCALE INTRACELLULAR FUNCTIONAL ASSAYS)

Período documentado: 2019-10-15 hasta 2021-01-14

Resumen del contexto y de los objetivos generales del proyecto

More than one billion people worldwide suffer from diseases of the central nervous system. Treating brain diseases costs annually € 1.4T in EU and US .
Despite efforts and increasing budgets dedicated by multinational pharmaceutical companies for developing new drugs to cure diseases of the nervous system, brain drugs are 45% less likely to succeed and progress than non-brain drugs.
There is a widening gap between the increasing demand for brain therapeutics and the decreasing success rate of new drug.

Neurons connect and communicate by electrical signals.
Neural connectivity is altered through brain diseases (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease, Schizophrenia, Autism, etc.).
In order to accurately measure neural connectivity, it is necessary to access neurons’ intracellular electrical signals.

The overall objectives of In-Cytes project include the development of a prototype in vitro electrophysiology platform providing a connectivity bioassay.
In-Cytes assay aims to reliably recording intracellular electrical signals from thousands of neurons, in order to assess drug effects on neuronal connectivity in human brain disease models, in vitro.

Trabajo realizado desde el comienzo del proyecto hasta el final del período abarcado por el informe y los principales resultados hasta la fecha

"One of the main goal of the In-Cytes project was to train the Innovation Associate, in order to enable her to transition from an academic environment focusing on basic research to a business environment.
The Innovation associate was trained in an industrial R&D environment, including project management aspects and product applications (from cell cultures on MEA sensors to data analysis).
The innovation associate was also involved in customer support and satisfaction.
The innovation associate partitcaped to marketing events and successfully collaborated with industrial biotechnology partners, which lead to creation of application protocols.
The Innovation became a key employee at the hosting company for internal product development and to interface customers, therefore she was hired by a permanent position as ""Application Scientist"".
Importantly, the Innovation associated developed prototype assay enabling live identification of single-neurons and targeted electrical stimulation, enabling access to intracellular signals."

Avances que van más allá del estado de la técnica e impacto potencial esperado (incluida la repercusión socioeconómica y las implicaciones sociales más amplias del proyecto hasta la fecha)

In-Cytes project enabled MaxWell Biosystem to explore the technical parameters required for single-neuron electrical stimulation, in order to develop the first high-throughput drug screening platform for recording intracellular electrical signals in neural networks. In-Cytes assay aims to be used in combination with human induced pluripotent stem cell technology, enabling drug screenings in human neurons modeling brain disease and reducing the use of animal models in preclinical drug discovery. In-Cytes assay will provide novel high-content electrophysiological parameters, which in turn will shorten the time to identify efficacious and safe drug for brain diseases.

In-Cytes Concept