The new system will enable DLOC to launch a pre-clinical 'trials-on-chip' testing service for pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations, the aim being to reduce the cost of drug development while increasing the safety of human trials.
DLOC Biosystems (DLOC), a spin-out from the American University of Beirut, has appointed 42 Technology (42T) as a strategic product development partner to help bring its advanced 3D human-on-chip technology and fully-automated operating system to market.
The appointment follows a series of technical reviews and system design projects with 42T over the last 18 months that were specifically designed to help DLOC strengthen the patents protecting its core technology before starting its next phase of development.
DLOC’s existing microfluidic biochips, which include proprietary features such as ultrathin 3D porous scaffolds, are already being used to create accurate biomimetic models of mammary, pancreatic, renal and other ductal tissues.
But as a next step, the company plans to develop a fully-automated ‘human-on-chip’ system to connect multiple chips of different tissue types together: to enable more practical and versatile modelling and determinations of tissues recapitulating in vivo organs.
As a result of this new partnership, 42T will now work alongside DLOC’s in-house engineering team on an 18-month phased development programme to design a prototype system that can be used to emulate the complete structure and function of ductal tissues and to monitor them in real time. The work is due to start within the next few months.
Waddah Malaeb, CEO and co-founder of DLOC, says, “42 Technology is the ideal development partner to help boost the intensive system development programme that’s already ongoing within DLOC’s own laboratories and manufacturing facility, and with our university partners.
The company’s engineering team is well known for its collaborative approach, as well as having significant expertise in areas such as microfluidics, high-precision mechanical engineering and system design.”
42T’s projects for this next phase will include optimising the design of DLOC biochips for high-volume manufacture, developing the design for a prototype ‘human-on-chip’ system, and developing and integrating some key subsystems.
The work will also potentially help DLOC file additional patents to further protect its latest design and technology breakthroughs.
DLOC’s vision is to develop a compact and modular ‘human-on-chip’ system that will also be the world’s first to integrate interconnected modular organs with real-time measurement using in-built spectrophotometry and microscopy.
The new system will enable DLOC to launch a pre-clinical trials-on-chip testing service for pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations, the aim being to reduce the cost of drug development while increasing the safety of human trials.
DLOC Biosystems (DLOC) is a biotechnology start-up, spun out from the American University of Beirut in 2018, that won the Arab world’s leading science competition and TV show Qatar Foundation’s Stars-of-Science in 2020. The company was founded to develop an innovative organ-on-chip device to grow human micro-tissues in the lab that resemble the micro environment of in vivo tissues.
DLOC is a contract research organisation that plans to start selling its on-chip testing services within the next 18 months to help pharmaceutical companies determine the possible clinical failure of some drugs at an earlier stage in the drug discovery process.
The company applies state-of-the-art advances in micro-manufacturing to fabricate its patented innovative chip design that allows growing precise 3D micro-tissues for cell culture applications.
The supported 3D ductal scaffold allows for extreme accuracy, by giving structural support when developing the tissue, but still provides an open environment with the surrounding tissue. This creates a tissue with high resemblance to physiological conditions, also in its response to drugs.
For further information, please visit dlocbiosystems.com
42 Technology (42T) is a product design and innovation consultancy that helps to create innovative new products and manufacturing processes for some of the world’s best-known brands, as well as start-ups and SMEs.
We work across three key sectors: consumer, industrial, and healthcare and life sciences.
The team comprises engineers, scientists and designers, and offers a diverse range of skillsets that includes ethnographic research and usability engineering, product and system design, device testing and regulatory compliance.
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DLOC partners with 42 Technology to develop 'human-on-chip' system
DLOC partners with 42 Technology to develop ‘human-on-chip’ system
If you would like to find out more, please contact Craig Townsend
craig.townsend@42T.com | +44 (0)1480 309461 | LinkedIn: Craig