Laureates of the prematuration grants 2022

Discover the funded projects

• Ayako Yamada (ENS) - In-situ formation and microvascularization of human brain organoids on an engineered substrate integrated in a microfluidic chip for dynamic studies of brain development | This project aims at developing a platform, in which microfluidics and micro-/nano-fabrication technologies are combined, to realize systematic in-situ formation and microvascularization of human brain organoids. The field of brain organoids is flourishing thanks to their 3D features closely mimicking the real brain tissues. However, they lack microvessels, which is an indispensable components of brain tissues. Here, we target to establish a versatile microfluidic platform for dynamic observation of brain organoid development accompanied by microvascularization under controlled microenvironment. This transformative and easy to use tool is addressed to neuroscientists studying brain development as well as to biologists and medical doctors looking for a reliable device for drug testing and disease modeling using a realistic brain model.

• Philippe Nghe and Reza Kowsari - Esfahan (ESPCI) - High-throughput combinatorial drug testing on in vitro 3D cell model microfluidic platform | The team of Philippe Nghe (IPGG and UMR Chimie Biologie Innovation at ESPCI) has developed an innovative microfluidic platform for 3D culture and high-throughput screening (HTS) of drug combinations. Synergy by drug combination is a powerful method to accelerate drug development by combining approved drugs, boosting new drugs with approved ones, rescuing drugs that lack efficacy alone, and fighting resistance. However, combinatorial screening is highly demanding in throughput, which we solved through fluidic design. Furthermore, 3D culture provides data that is more predictive of later physiological responses, thus increasing the success probability of downstream drug development stages. We have shown dose-response measurements of 144 antibiotic combinations on bacteria on a single chip. This prematuration funding will demonstrate the applicability of our technology to human cells and provide a proof-of-concept to create a spin-off to reach the preclinical drug screening market in a broad range of therapeutic areas.