CN Bio and Imperial College London collaborate to identify novel treatments for alcoholic hepatitis

Cambridge and London, UK, 08 September 2020: CN Bio, a leading cell culture company, that has developed single and multi-organ microphysiological systems (MPS) to improve the accuracy and efficiency of drug discovery, today announced a collaboration with Imperial College London, a world-class research university. The research will harness CN Bio’s Liver-on-Chip technology to advance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of alcoholic hepatitis and uncover novel targets for drug discovery and development.

Despite being an increasingly prevalent liver disease, the pathophysiology of alcoholic hepatitis is not fully understood, no evidence-based treatments are available that improve survival beyond a month. As part of the collaboration with Imperial College London, CN Bio’s PhysioMimix™ MPS has been adopted by Professor Mark Thursz, a leading academic in Hepatology, to further his research into the disease by providing reliable human-relevant data, in vitro. Prof. Thursz will harness CN Bio’s 3D Liver-on-Chip technology to model the disease at a molecular and cellular level, including the distinct metabolomic profile observed in patients. The research aims to discover potential therapeutic targets for which novel drugs treatments can be developed.

CN Bio’s proprietary Liver-on-Chip technology enables longer term in vitro culture (>1 month) of primary liver cells in 3D microtissue structures for modelling a range of human liver diseases and their progression. The Company has developed assays for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)/steatosis and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) disease states, both of which are available as fee-for-service work.

Dr Tomasz Kostrzewski, Director, Biology, CN Bio, said: “This incredibly important research demonstrates a growing acceptance and adoption of advanced organ-on-chip models by the academic community, for mimicking liver diseases in vitro to investigate the mechanisms behind them. By using our technology in R&D efforts against yet another liver disorder, we hope to better inform drug discovery processes and fast-track investigations into new drug candidates.”

 

Professor Mark Thursz, Professor of Hepatology, Head of Department, Imperial College London, commented: “Alcoholic hepatitis is the most severe manifestation of alcohol-related liver disease, with a greater than 50% mortality at one year. It is proving challenging to find an effective treatment, in part due to the gaps in our knowledge of its pathophysiology. Harnessing CN Bio’s microphysiological technology, we hope our research will fill these gaps and improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the changes seen in patients and ultimately reveal novel treatment targets."

For more information about CN Bio’s Liver-on-Chip technology, visit: https://cn-bio.com/liver-on-chip/

ENDS

Notes to Editors

 

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CN Bio

James Craven, Chief Commercial Officer

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Imperial College London

Benjamin Coleman, Communications Coordinator Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction

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About CN Bio https://cn-bio.com/

CN Bio is a leading cell culture company that has developed single and multi-organ microphysiological systems (MPS) that improve the accuracy and efficiency of drug discovery. With more than a decade of research and development experience in multi-organ microphysiology, the Company aims to transform the way human-relevant pre-clinical data is generated.

CN Bio’s organ-on-chip systems, which include the PhysioMimix™ lab-benchtop instrument, enable researchers to model human biology in the lab through rapid and predictive 3D human tissue-based studies that harness microfluidic technology. The technology bridges the gap between traditional cell culture and human studies, advancing towards the simulation of human biological conditions to support the accelerated development of new therapeutics in application areas including oncology, infectious diseases, metabolism and inflammation.

CN Bio supports researchers that require data-rich in vitro studies for the analysis of novel compounds, and assessment of toxicity and safety, in addition to supporting investigation into a broad range of biological processes across different organ cell-types, in application areas including ADME and toxicology, disease modelling, drug discovery, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, and drug repurposing.

CN Bio’s technology is licensed from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Vanderbilt University, and has been successfully adopted by numerous pharma and academic partners.

CN Bio’s headquarters and laboratories are based in Cambridge, UK, with an international network of distributors.


About Imperial College London https://www.imperial.ac.uk/

Imperial College London is one of the world's leading universities. The College's 17,000 students and 8,000 staff are expanding the frontiers of knowledge in science, medicine, engineering and business, and translating their discoveries into benefits for our society.

Imperial is the UK's most international university, according to Times Higher Education, with academic ties to more than 150 countries. Reuters named the College as the UK's most innovative university because of its exceptional entrepreneurial culture and ties to industry.