CN Bio and LifeNet Health LifeSciences Partner to Supply Pre-Validated Cells

CN Bio, a organ-on-a-chip (OOC) company specializing in the design and manufacture of single-and multi-organ microphysiological systems (MPS), has partnered with LifeNet Health LifeSciences (LifeNet Health), a non-profit provider of all-human research solutions, to supply validated primary human cells. The cells will be used with CN Bio’s PhysioMimix OOC range of MPS.

Under the agreement, LifeNet Health’s MPS-validated, hepatic cells will be made available either within CN Bio’s non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) “in-a-box” kit or directly from LifeNet Health. The companies expect that this partnership will provide a streamlined solution for the recreation of CN Bio’s advanced in-vitro liver models and that the combination will maximize assay success.

According to a Sept. 6, 2023 company press release, CN Bio will use a stringent process to pre-qualify select hepatocyte, stellate, and Kupffer cells that are proven to thrive in extended 3D MPS culture. These cells will have to show that they maintain function and phenotype for a minimum of two weeks. It is known that lot validation in standard static 2D or 3D cell cultures does not guarantee the performance of primary cells in perfused MPS cultures. CN Bio carried out an analysis over a five-year period where it demonstrated that greater than 60% of hepatocyte cell lots across various suppliers failed to meet acceptable performance criteria for MPS assays. Thus, pre-validating cell lots for use in MPS assays is necessary, and it ensures that robust and reliable human-relevant data can be generated, according to the company press release. However, the validation process itself requires that additional resource, time, and budget be factored in.

“LifeNet Health and CN Bio share a commitment to helping researchers bring safer, more effective therapies to patients sooner, with no unnecessary animal testing,” said Tomasz Kostrzewski, chief scientific officer, CN Bio, in the press release. “In our studies, LifeNet Health’s cells have consistently shown high success rates, and we are confident this will lead to more reliable, reproducible results. Our partnership represents an important milestone for existing customers, alongside those looking to adopt OOC technology into their own labs. Validation of cells is a costly and laborious process, but one that is imperative for assay success. Harnessing our combined technical expertise and customer support, we can offer researchers a more complete solution to easily recreate our industry-leading liver models, removing the risk of failed experiments due to untested cells and the burden of in-house quality control testing—so that they can focus their efforts on new discoveries.”

“This partnership represents a joint investment to set a new standard for cell quality across the industry, enabling customers across a broad range of market segments to realize the potential of OOC, without the need for costly in-house validation,” said Ed LeCluyse, chief scientist, LifeNet Health LifeSciences, in the release. “Our cells are fully characterized for quality and performance, to ensure they can perform within advanced platforms, to more effectively mimic in-vivo biology.”

Source: CN Bio