MIMETAS, in a consortium with Radboudumc and FHNW, has received 1.6 million USD funding for development of a kidney-on-a-chip for toxicological applications. A panel of experts from GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Roche, NC3Rs and renowned academic institutions selected MIMETAS’ solution from a strong line-up of competing technologies.
The funding is awarded in the context of the NephroTube Crack-it Challenge to support development of a microfluidic renal model predicting renal toxicity during pre-clinical development. In collaboration with the Radboudumc Pharmacology-Toxicology Department and the Swiss FHNW, MIMETAS will use the funds to develop a high-throughput kidney-on-a-chip model by combining its OrganoPlate™ 3D-culturing technology with the human renal cell line ciPTEC™, analyzed and validated in three separate sites. The resulting model will be used to detect renal tubular injury observed in drug-induced nephrotoxicity. The model’s early prediction of nephrotoxicity will help to reduce animal experiments.