Toronto: A research team led by U of T Engineering Professor Craig Simmons (MIE, IBBME) received $300,000 this week to create a 3D model of the human liver. Funded by Ontario Centres of Excellence and pharmaceutical consortium CQDM, the project could help determine whether or not new drug molecules are safe for use in humans. Drug
developers rely on lab tests and preclinical trials to determine how a
potential drug molecule might react when processed by the liver or other
organs in the human body. One form of testing is to try the drug on
lab-grown cells, but an individual cell can behave very differently to
one in its natural environment that is surrounded by blood vessels and
other components of tissue.
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.