Model systems for drug development
The recent past has witnessed the failure of several drug development projects due to the lack of translatability of research findings into clinical practice. There is therefore a great need for model systems, which can reproduce a patient's disease with precision and have the potential to predict treatment responses towards given compounds.
Investigating complex organ systems and disease patterns
Innovative technology and platforms are developed at the NMI, in interdisciplinary projects covering the fields of cell biology, microfluidics and bioelectronics. Complex organ systems and disease models are studied in this way and novel compounds are tested under physiological conditions to assess their efficacy and the risk of adverse treatment effects. Using co-cultures of patient-derived microtumours and immune cells, we assess the efficacy of recent immuno-oncological treatment approaches.
Microphysiological systems can mimic the smallest functional unit in organs on a single microfluidic perfusion chip. Cell aggregates from cardiomyocytes or complex tissue, such as retina, are electrophysiologically addressed in the context of safety pharmacology.