The Technology
Cardiovascular drug development is limited by the lack of predictive, scalable human cardiac models. Animal models and simplified in vitro assays often fail to translate to the clinic, contributing to late-stage attrition across heart failure and broader cardiomyopathy programs.
A fully human cardiac organoid platform has been established to model both healthy and diseased heart tissue, including heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The platform generates reproducible, multicellular cardiac micro-tissues composed of human cardiomyocytes and supporting cell types, recapitulating key features of native myocardium including tissue architecture, diastolic and contractile function, fibrosis, metabolic stress, and pharmacological responsiveness.
A controlled, stepwise tissue assembly strategy promotes endogenous extracellular matrix formation and enables reproducible, scalable tissue generation. Combined with automated handling, contactless optogenetic pacing, and quantitative functional readouts, the platform supports medium- to high-throughput drug screening in standardized plate formats.
Advantages
- Reproducible and standardized generation of multicellular cardiac tissues
- Medium- to high-throughput screening compatible with automation
- Quantitative mechanical, electrophysiological, and metabolic functional readouts
- Models both healthy myocardium and cardiac diseases, including HFpEF
- Supports emerging New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for drug development
Applications and Opportunities
- Drug discovery and lead optimization
- Disease modeling of HFpEF and other cardiomyopathies
- Translational efficacy and cardiotoxicity assessment
- Early de-risking and “clinical trials in a dish” strategies
- Human-relevant platform for preclinical cardiac drug development
Business Development Contacts
