Phase, Inc.
Phase, Inc. has been awarded a 1.8 million USD grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a project involving Harvard Medical School, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. The project will develop a blood-brain-barrier model that recreates the in vivo environment and will address the existing limitations of models of the brain used to treat neurological diseases and brain cancer.
Phase says this builds on its work to create next-generation organ-on-a-chip microfluidic models to accelerate pharmaceutical development and bioinnovation.
Phase says its proprietary innovation lies in its ability to 3D print microfluidic models using PDMS and other biocompatible materials with a resolution matching the biological scale. The technology allows for valves, sensors, and electrodes to be integrated during the printing process.
The company’s process enables rapid customised iterations and scalable production. Phase says the approach will unlock the design freedom of 3D printing for organ-on-a-chip and microfluidic development, which will lead to significant advancements of models that mimic in vivo environment and advance biomanufacturing.
According to Phase, organ-on-a-chip models and microfluidics are becoming increasingly important to develop drugs, test toxicity, and recreate an in vivo environment using in vitro models, as United States and European Union regulators look to phase out animal testing.
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“With the support of the NIH and with this team of leading researchers, we believe this project will not only help create a better blood-brain-barrier model, but also lay the foundation for creating other microfluidics and organ-on-a-chip models that will greatly benefit researchers and patients alike,” said Jeff Schultz, Ph.D., MBA, and co-founder of Phase.
Partners on the project include Seemantini Nadkarni, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachussets General Hospital, whos team will develop a system to test the kinetics of PDMS during the creation of organ-on-a-chip devices.
Rafael Davalos is also a partner, a professor of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech. His team will perform functional testing of the blood-brain-barrier model.
The final partner is Amrinder Nain, a professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, whose team will fabricate ultra-thin and nanoporous membrane mimics for the model.
Phase says the NIH grant builds upon several investments and support by governmental and biotech institutions, including: a Phase 1 SBIR grant from the NIH to develop the new 3D printing technology; an NC Biotech Small Business Research Loan, which fosters growth of innovative early-stage life science companies in North Carolina; a One North Carolina Small Business Program grant; participation in the First Flight Venture Center’s WheelsUP program; and two NIH Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) awards to identify market opportunities.
In 2016, TCT covered news of researchers at Harvard University developing the first entirely 3D printed organ-on-a-chip.
