Market Overview:
This myocardial in vitro screening platform provides relevant physiological stimuli enabling analysis of output metrics with direct clinical relevance to cardiac function. While drug discovery is robust and well-funded, a very low percentage of experimental drug candidates reach the marketplace as FDA-approved therapies. This translates into billions of dollars of sunk costs and many years of time and effort lost. Improving drug-screening platforms to more accurately capture physiologically relevant environments and functionality could significantly reduce temporal and monetary waste. Clemson University researchers have developed an in vitro myocardial therapy screening platform possessing superior physiological relevance that enables clinically translatable metrics for therapy efficacy and cardiotoxicity evaluation.
Application Stage of Development
Miyocardial therapy, Cardiotoxicity, TRL4: Research Prototype
Therapy, In vitro screening, Biomedical
Advantages
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Physiologically relevant mechanical environment, improving prediction of therapy success.
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Physiologically relevant output metrics, communicating direct clinical translation.
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Dynamic mechanical environment, providing versatility in desired testing conditions.
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Tunable cardiac cycle, enabling patient-specific therapy development.
Technical Summary
The myocardial in vitro screening platform is a bioreactor system providing a physiologically relevant environment through precise control of the dynamic force-length relationship that occurs in the myocardial tissue constructs. This precise control recapitulates the pressure-volume mechanical relationships found in the native myocardium that are often evaluated in the progression or diagnosis of cardiac pathologies. The platform not only simulates this environment but also produces physiologically relevant metrics such as tissue stiffness, contractility, stroke work, and cardiac output curves which directly translate to clinically relevant treatment metrics. The nature of the technology platform is conducive for high-throughput therapy screening, in vitro research acceleration, cardiotoxicity assessment, and long-term personalized patient diagnostics and therapy selection.
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Inventors: Will Richardson
Jonathan Heywood
Samuel Coeyman
Patent Type: N/A
Serial Number: 63/236,936
CURF Ref No: 2021-003