Opal Therapeutics secured a $1.25 million National Science Foundation (NSF) SBIR Phase II award

Funds will be used to scale its patient-derived gynecologic drug screening platform ("uterus in a dish").  Patient-derived cells from menstrual blood and surgical biopsies will be used in drug discovery programs to treat  chronic women’s health conditions, such as endometriosis and fibroids.   Read more here.

QKine receives £1.5 M from capital investors

Qkine, a UK manufacturer of high-purity, animal-free growth factors and cytokines used extensively in organoid cultures, secured a £1.5 million investment to accelerate stem cell and organoid innovation.  The company has also joined the Organoid COMMONS where it will contribute its technology to help standardization, industrialization, and democratization of organoid-based technologies.

Read more here and here. 

Innovation, Research, & Development

This paper provides an interesting proof-of-concept study on the potential of combining expertise from biology, electronics, and mechanical engineering. In the lab, the organoid-sensory platform alone may provide a better understanding of sensory neurology. With improved robustness and robotic integration sensory organoids could be developed for field applications, such as search and rescue and biohazard identification.

The authors didn’t stop there; they added magnetic beads exposed to a magnetic field to generate a force that mimics pressure that the cells would experience in vivo. (Although it wasn’t well explained, my guess is that these beads become imbedded in the extracellular matrix and application of a gentle magnetic forces generate pressure. A microfluidic system was also applied to cultures. Both the mechanical pressure from the beads and media flow were necessary to develop the valves with physical and molecular attributes similar to in vivo heart values.
Lastly, disease models were produced by genetic mutations, hyperglycemia exposure, and cryo-ablation. The latter is used in mouse models of cardiac disease. The cellular and downstream molecular effects including expression of osteogenic-related genes, mimicked those of clinical disease.
I also applaud that the paper has a “Limitations of the Study” section.

This manuscript emphasizes the importance of including vascular cells in lung organoids in the development of in vitro pulmonary models, namely COPD and pulmonary hypertension. The authors derive the pulmonary iPSCs for these studies from a 60-year old, 30-pack/year cigarette smoker. The organoids are exposed to cigarette smoke extract and they demonstrate change in several biomarkers coincide with COPD patients. Furthermore, these gene signatures respond in a favorable direction when the organoids are exposed to hydrogen sulfide which is known to have vascular remodeling and cardioprotective effects.

Our second lung organoid model review is a good example of how complex in vitro models can be used in combination with in vivo models to build confidence in drug development. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a deadly disease caused by dysfunctional immune reaction in the lungs.

In this paper, the authors develop an antibody fragment (Fab) that targets a receptor found on monocytes and macrophages. When the CSF-1R receptor on monocytes is bound by the drug candidate BC006, it inhibits its differentiation to macrophages.

BC006 was tested in an invitro system that consists of “high throughput” membrane chip with lung organoids in the upper chamber and endothelial cells lining the bottom membrane. Macrophages were added to the lower chamber.

A human IPF in vitro model was replicated by adding TGF-B1 to the system. This caused the elongation of the organoid cells, expression of Collagen I and alpha-SMA and disruption in endothelial barrier as measured by TEER. The addition of BC006 was able to revert these changes back to a normal cellular lung phenotype.

In addition, the group showed similar efficacy of BC006 in a transgenic-mouse model that expressed human CSF-1R.

Sept 29

Patient-Derived Organoids or Ex Vivo Tumor Tissue Cultures? Choosing the Right Preclinical Model 

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Oct 6

From absorption to metabolism: predicting human oral drug exposure

Explore how human gut-liver models can improve the translation of preclinical findings into clinical pharmacokinetic predictions.

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Oct 7

Webinar to Consider NAMs Data for Regulatory Decision-making

ICCVAM Communities of Practice Webinar 2026

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October 20-21

Exploring Organoids for Disease Modeling Research

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Oct 20-21:     Workshop: Alternative Methodologies in Pharmaceutical Development (NIH/ORIVA)                                                                                                                                                                                          Register

Oct 21:     Integrating New Approach Methodologies to De-risk CNS Drug Discovery     Register

Oct 22-23:  DAIBR Workshop: Recent Developments in Human-Based Models (NIH/ORIVA) Register

Nov 4 & 5:  Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM) Meeting

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Dec 2:  3RsC Skin MPS Webinar             Register

Dec 2 & 8  From Insight to Decision (CN-Bio)  Register

Dec 7 &8:  NIH Tissue Chip Consortium + CIVM Qualification Framework Public Workshop                                                        Register

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