Smartheart, a 3d in vitro assay for improved assessment of cardiac drug efficacy and toxicity
Currently, animal models are still widely used in the pre-clinical stage of drug development to mimic human diseases or predict the human body’s response to candidate drugs. However, their use should be minimized as much as possible due to ethical issues and since only 9.6% of drugs entering phase I of clinical trials end up being commercialized.  Therefore, the goal of this action is to develop a novel proprietary 3D in vitro cardiac assay.  The SmartHeart will retrieve several of the most important read-outs commonly assessed to study the impact of drugs at the cardiac level in the pre-clinical phase. The all in one assay will be based on a microstructured gel where cardiac cells, as cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells will be cultured. The SmartHeart will answer to the shortcomings of academic and commercial available in vitro assays, by enabling the qualitative and quantitative measurement of several parameters, as contractility and Calcium transients. Simultaneously, the assay will enable sub-cellular structure observation via high-resolution imaging techniques. Furthermore, the 3D nature of the assay will contribute to the efficient maturation of the induced CMs, which is still a limiting factor when not using cardiac human cells, but rather induced CMs, in in vitro assays. The ultimate aim of the project is to make this device available to screening platforms, e.g. Pharma or CROs. The technology will be implemented in multiwell plates compatible with the standards of HTS/HCS and will be available to early-users, from whom feedback will be acquired, enabling to fine tune the specifications of the final device. This project will meet the best of the ER competences in physics, with the expertise of 4Dcell in 3Dcell culture systems. With this project, the ER will reach a level of maturity on several technological, managerial and industrial aspects providing her a new career angle and put her a step closer to act as a leader in research.