EU Industry, Academe Pool Efforts to Build a Better Liver
July 3, 2012 – 9:14 amEuropean SMEs Medicyte, the Electrospinning Co. and GABO:mi and the universities of Manchester and Pisa have embarked on a Europe-wide project to design a biomimetic bioartificial liver within the Re-Liver programme.
The Re-Liver project hopes to develop a standardised, reproducible bioartificial liver organoid (BLO) using healthy human liver as an architectural and biomaterial template. New diagnostic tools and other cell-based products also will be developed and validated by the Re-Liver consortium, notes a recently issued press release. The results could advance the minimally invasive treatment of metabolic diseases, such as haemophilia A, and produce an alternative to solid organ transplantation.
The industrial-academic collaboration holds great promise for Joris Braspenning, MD, CEO and CSO of Medicyte GmbH and Coordinator of the Re-Liver consortium. “The combination of complementary areas of expertise will give a deeper insight into the complex bioartificial liver design, but is also an innovative approach to develop better and quicker diagnostic tools and cell-based products. This will be of great benefit for tomorrow’s advanced therapies and, of course, for patients suffering from liver disease.” Six percent of the EU population reportedly suffers from chronic liver disease.
The research will receive €4.2 million in funding from the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ 2007-2013).
Norbert Sparrow
