TissMec · 3D screening system to cultivate tissue and automatically stimulate and quantify its mechanical properties

The way from potential drug candidates to clinically approved new medication is long and expensive. To improve this, we will provide the TissMec system that can create 3D human tissue while providing an automated and scalable way to quantify potential problems of drugs and other compounds of interest. Our TissMec system can not only measure the force generation of muscles and other contractile tissue but also continuously determine the viscoelastic tissue properties while mimicking mechanical situations that are known hallmarks of several critical diseases. Up to now, obtaining such information is either not possible or requires slow and expensive manual work. Hence, an automated, scalable and standardized (96 well) system that can quickly screen properties on human tissue can become a game-changer, as it identifies problematic drugs and compounds very early in the drug development process. We have a laboratory prototype (TRL4) that already demonstrates these capacities, and the proposed PoC project will develop this lab version into a user-friendly TRL6 prototype that we can give to our partners in pharmacology and toxicology and to already well-established industry partners. Our team is composed of 5 scientists spanning physics, biology, chemistry, data science, and economy. Hence, we not only have invented a new technology to greatly improve an urgent current problem but also have a powerful network and outstanding team to ensure the success of our project.