hDMT INFRA

National infrastructure

To catalyze transfer of knowledge and innovation from academia to users of the technology, hDMT is currently establishing a Dutch Organ-on-Chip Infrastructure called hDMT INFRA: a unique network of Dutch Centers of Expertise (CoEs), dedicated to making Organ-on-Chip ready for end-user applications. The individual CoEs will be self-sustainable but embedded in the national infrastructure framework. They offer expert services in Organ-on-Chip design and application, which are dependent on the expertise of the specific CoE and include tailored advice and access to manufacturing facilities, training and education and in the future independent testing and qualification.

Blueprints

The Organ-on-Chip Center Twente (OoCCT) and the iPSC & OoC Hotel at Leiden University Medical Center, will serve as blueprints for future CoEs. These centers have complementary expertise and will facilitate researchers and companies in application of Organ-on-Chip technology. OoCCT has strong focus on standardization, providing services and tools for chip design and manufacturing. The iPSC & OoC Hotel has strong focus on generation and repair of (diseased) human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and differentiating these into different tissue types for comparison of healthy and diseased variants in Organs-on-Chip. To this end and to make it nationally accessible, dedicated staff and training facilities are required. CoEs at other hDMT partner organizations, that join later will offer different services and innovative technologies but together they will provide a complete collection of tools, data and knowledge that will be available to all users.

Roadmap Large Scale Research Infrastructures

On 8 September 2021 Minister van Engelshoven has received the new National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Infrastructures 2021. This Roadmap is intended as a guide for making strategic choices for investments in an innovative research infrastructure. In the new Roadmap, nine Groups present, on behalf of the Dutch research field, their proposals for investments in a large-scale research infrastructure for the coming ten years. This research infrastructure has the highest priority for science in the Netherlands and can qualify for NWO funding. In the coming five years, a total of 200 million euros will be distributed over two funding rounds. Within the group Medical Sciences, hDMT INFRA is one of the proposed infrastructures within the theme ‘Advanced Personalized Therapies & human Model Systems’.