Life Sciences

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

Cell culture specialist CN Bio has established a research collaboration with Imperial College London that 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. As part of the collaboration, 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. Professor 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.

The technology enables longer-term in vitro culture of primary liver cells in 3D microtissue structures for modeling 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.