Descripción del proyecto
Una nueva era en el cribaje de fármacos
A pesar de estar en pañales, la microfluídica tiene el potencial de convertirse en una tecnología de uso generalizado con numerosas aplicaciones biomédicas. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos COMMiT propone utilizar la microfluídica para el cribaje de alto rendimiento de grades paneles de fármacos. Mediante el uso de una tecnología patentada de chips textiles de flujo libre («free-flow textile chips»), los científicos pueden producir esferoides de células en tres dimensiones y encapsulados dentro de gotas de nanolitros a partir de una sola biopsia tumoral. La plataforma microfluídica puede utilizarse para producir modelos personalizados basados en células y sustituir así los ensayos con animales. Se espera que la tecnología de chips textiles de flujo libre ayude al desarrollo de fármacos en la industria farmacéutica y promueva la medicina de precisión.
Objetivo
The development of precision and personalized medicine, notably in cancer, leads to an explosion in the cost of research, clinical trials, diagnosis and treatment. It calls for a change of paradigm in cell-based personalized models, allowing-high throughput screening of large panels of drugs at low cost and on minute samples. We invented in ERCadg CellO a new technology “Free-Flow Textile Chips” (FFTC) proving a solution to the above problem. It allows the production of high-resolution complex microfluidic devices at very low cost using the power of the textile industry. Using this technology we developed an automated platform able to generate, from a single micro-biopsy, a large number of 3D tumor cell spheroids encapsulated within individual nanoliter droplets, and to screen them against tens of drug combinations. This platform will reduce the time, sample size, cost of screening and drugs consumption per assay by factors ranging from 10 to 1000. This will in turn replace animal testing, and allow low-cost high-content drug screening and affordable precision medicine. This new platform will be tested versus conventional techniques in a real world context, and steps towards industrialization will be taken. We shall first target the market of research laboratories and drug development in the pharmaceutical industry, but also prepare clinical applications to the personalization of anticancer treatments. Beyond this, FFTC represents a major breakthrough in microfluidics, a technological field that is currently revolutionizing biology and medicine. Currently its democratization and societal impact are limited by fabrication costs. FFTC will overcome this barrier. COMMiT will thus pave the route to a wide range of other applications, such as “point-of-care” devices or “organs-on-chip” to replace animal testing.
Ámbito científico
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug discovery
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsmicrofluidics
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringtextiles
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespersonalized medicine
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantInstitución de acogida
75794 Paris
Francia