Draper Achieves Immune Cell Recirculation
What happened
Scientists at Draper have successfully produced a sustained, 24-hour recirculation of primary human immune cells in a high-throughput microphysiological system (MPS). This achievement in "organ-on-a-chip" technology could improve the preclinical testing of new drugs and immunotherapies.
Why it matters
- The specific technology platform used is called PREDICT-96, which is designed for high-throughput testing, meaning it can run experiments on 96 organ models simultaneously. - The immune cells recirculated were primary human neutrophils, a type of white blood cell notoriously difficult to work with because they typically survive for less than two hours in lab systems; Draper maintained over 90% viability for up to 24 hours. - A key challenge in drug development is that animal models are often poor predictors of how a drug will work in humans, leading to a clinical trial failure rate of about 90%. "Organ-on-a-chip" systems aim to create more accurate, human-relevant models to improve this success rate. - To keep the delicate neutrophils alive, Draper's engineering team modified the system's pump controller and fluid dynamics to reduce the velocity and physical stress (shear forces) that were harming the cells. - Elizabeth Wiellette, a Ph.D. and Lab Fellow at Draper, noted that this breakthrough will enable more accurate modeling of the human immune response in injury, infection, and disease. - The project is an example of a "New Approach Methodology" (NAM), a term for technologies that can replace, reduce, or refine animal testing, a key goal of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). - This work builds on Draper's broader efforts in immuno-oncology, which include developing microfluidic devices to study the interactions between immune cells and patient tumor fragments in real-time.
Key numbers
- Scientists at Draper have successfully produced a sustained, 24-hour recirculation of primary human immune cells in a high-throughput microphysiological system (MPS).
- - The specific technology platform used is called PREDICT-96, which is designed for high-throughput testing, meaning it can run experiments on 96 organ models simultaneously.
- The immune cells recirculated were primary human neutrophils, a type of white blood cell notoriously difficult to work with because they typically survive for less than two hours in lab systems; Draper maintained over 90% viability for up to 24 hours.
- A key challenge in drug development is that animal models are often poor predictors of how a drug will work in humans, leading to a clinical trial failure rate of about 90%.
What happens next
- A key challenge in drug development is that animal models are often poor predictors of how a drug will work in humans, leading to a clinical trial failure rate of about 90%.
- "Organ-on-a-chip" systems aim to create more accurate, human-relevant models to improve this success rate.
- and Lab Fellow at Draper, noted that this breakthrough will enable more accurate modeling of the human immune response in injury, infection, and disease.
Quick answers
What happened in Draper Achieves Immune Cell Recirculation?
Scientists at Draper have successfully produced a sustained, 24-hour recirculation of primary human immune cells in a high-throughput microphysiological system (MPS). This achievement in "organ-on-a-chip" technology could improve the preclinical testing of new drugs and immunotherapies.
Why does Draper Achieves Immune Cell Recirculation matter?
The specific technology platform used is called PREDICT-96, which is designed for high-throughput testing, meaning it can run experiments on 96 organ models simultaneously. The immune cells recirculated were primary human neutrophils, a type of white blood cell notoriously difficult to work with because they typically survive for less than two hours in lab systems; Draper maintained over 90% viability for up to 24 hours. A key challenge in drug development is that animal models are often poor predictors of how a drug will work in humans, leading to a clinical trial failure rate of about 90%. "Organ-on-a-chip" systems aim to create more accurate, human-relevant models to improve this success rate. To keep the delicate neutrophils alive, Draper's engineering team modified the system's pump controller and fluid dynamics to reduce the velocity and physical stress (shear forces) that were harming the cells. Elizabeth Wiellette, a Ph.D. and Lab Fellow at Draper, noted that this breakthrough will enable more accurate modeling of the human immune response in injury, infection, and disease. The project is an example of a "New Approach Methodology" (NAM), a term for technologies that can replace, reduce, or refine animal testing, a key goal of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This work builds on Draper's broader efforts in immuno-oncology, which include developing microfluidic devices to study the interactions between immune cells and patient tumor fragments in real-time.
