Simmons, along with Professor Michael Sefton (ChemE, IBBME) and other team members, have developed a way to grow small amounts of three-dimensional liver tissue in the lab. The team is now incorporating these bits of tissue into a microfluidic platform that simulates the flow of blood through the liver. In this way, they could simultaneously test dozens of chemical compounds to determine what their effect on the liver might be. The system will allow them to screen out drugs with potential negative effects at a very early stage of the drug development process.
“Our improved liver model will identify and eliminate toxic and ineffective drugs earlier in the drug discovery process,” said Simmons. As a result, the liver model will reduce the time, cost and reliance on animal testing for drug development.
Simmons said the grant will also help accelerate the translation of the technology to end users such as pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms and biology researchers. “By the end of this project, we expect to deliver a new best-in-class liver model that is designed to be immediately implemented and to enable faster, less expensive, and more effective drug discovery and development,” he said.