Category Archives: News

EMA implements new measures to minimise animal testing during medicines development

EMA is putting in place special support to developers to replace, reduce and refine animal use for the development, manufacturing and testing of human and veterinary medicines. The Agency is promoting these three principles – replace, reduce and refine; commonly referred to as 3Rs – through EMA’s Innovation Task Force (ITF). This action will facilitate the development and implementation of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) that are in line with the European Union legislation on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. For more information see the EMA Website. source: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ema-implements-new-measures-minimise-animal-testing-during-medicines-development

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Launch KNAW advice about drug development: Better efficiency by innovation

The trajectory to a safe and effective new medicine is long, expensive and full of obstacles. It takes many steps to determine the quality, efficacy and safety of a medicine, understand its pharmacology and bring it. Traditionally, the process starts with target identification, followed by screening and selection of new molecules affecting the identified target, preclinical testing of selected candidates, clinical testing during phase I-II-III trials, (inter-)national market approval by regulatory authorities, health technology assessment, and use in patients during which phase IV research with pharmacovigilance continues. This process may take 3-15 years. The KNAW was asked to identify how...

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The Intersection of Stem Cells and Engineering

Podcast with Christine Mummery and Peter Loskill Following the publication of the Special issue on Organs-on-Chip in Stem Cell Reports, the guest editors Christine Mummery and Peter Loskill were invited by Martin Pera (Editor-in-Chief of Stem Cell Reports) to join the podcast to talk about the intersection of stem cells, microphysiological systems and Organs-on-Chip technology in understanding disease, screening drugs and personalized medicine. Guests Christine Mummery, PhD, Professor of Developmental Biology at Leiden University Medical Center heading the iPSC & Organ-on-Chip Hotel at the LUMC. She is also chair of hDMT, the Dutch Organ-on-Chip Consortium), the recent past chair of EUROoCS and the recent past...

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Video about hDMT: past, present and future

In the context of the hDMT lustrum a corporate video has been made, giving insight in the start and development of the hDMT consortium during the past five years. Christine Mummery (chair hDMT Executive board), Janny van den Eijnden-van Raaij (Secretary/ treasurer hDMT Executive board, and managing director) and Berend van Meer (member hDMT Executive board) illustrate the past, present and future of a consortium that evolved into a growing national community on Organ-on-Chip, with a large international network and far-reaching ambitions regarding the application of this promising and innovative technology. Watch the video here

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The end of animal testing by Organs-on-Chips?

Almost everyone would like to ban animal testing.

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PROPER THERAPY: PROof-of-concePt for a human hEaRt model to test patient-specific THERAPY-responsiveness

Jolanda van der Velden (Amsterdam UMC) and colleagues have received a €859.014 grant from NWO Human Measurement Models 2.0 to perform disease modelling and treatment testing on 2D/3D models of iPSC-cardiomyocytes for carriers of MYBPC3 and VLCAD mutations causing cardiomyopathies. The PROPER-THERAPY team involves a collaboration between 4 academic (Amsterdam UMC, Erasmus MC, UMC Maastricht, UMC Utrecht) and 3 industrial (CytoCypher, Ionoptix, InVitroSys GmbH) partners, and aims to build proof that the metabolic state of the heart underlies drug responsiveness in inherited cardiomyopathies. Experts in metabolism team up with experts in physiology to better define the link between contractile function...

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Report of EUROoCS 2021 conference online

Ever-growing interest. The 3rd edition of the Annual EUROoCS (European Organ-on-Chip Society) Conference was again an online experience because of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. This time the organizing committee could select a different platform for the conference with many more options for interaction. There were even more attendees in the EUROoCS 2021 conference, held on the 1st and 2nd of July 2021, than in the previous year: in total 442 participants from 26 different countries. This year the latest results on Organ-on-Chip research were presented in 6 keynote lectures, 40 abstract selected talks and 130 posters. The posters were presented...

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Double Dose consortium on cardiomyopathy

In February this year the Double Dose research program on cardiomyopathy kicked off. The program is financed by the Netherlands Heart Foundation and Stichting Hartedroom (€3.250.000 in total). The consortium is led by Jolanda van der Velden (Amsterdam UMC) and Rudolf de Boer (UMCG) and combines experts in preclinical research, clinical genetics, health technology assessment and clinical researchers with a strong clinical focus on cardiomyopathy in children and adults. The program will make use of extensive patient cohorts and the findings from DOSIS to optimize care for cardiomyopathy patients. The cost-effectiveness of current diagnostics and clinical care from both patient...

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Pluripotente stamcellen bij hartziekten

Christine Mummery (hDMT partner LUMC and hDMT Executive Board Member) has contributed to the year book of Diligentia, De Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Natuurkunde. Some of the misunderstandings about what stem cells can and cannot do, and how they are generated in the lab are discussed. The article is in Dutch and can be downloaded via the following link here. “Een impressie van ‘jouw lichaam-op-een-chip”, credits to Berend van Meer, Mees de Graaf, and Claire Glashan. Summary of the lecture: The human heart is very different from that of a mouse. But the mouse is still the most used lab animal to...

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Special issue Stem Cell Reports on Organs-on-Chip

The special issue of Stem Cell Reports on Organs-on-Chip is the first result of the collaboration between the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) and the European Organ-on-Chip Society (EUROoCS). In the editorial the guest editors Christine Mummery and Peter Loskill, past chair and current chair of EUROoCS, welcome the readers of Stem Cell Reports to become inspired by the use of stem cell-derived tissues and organoids in Organ-on-Chip/microphysiological systems. The special issue includes commentaries on the future perspectives of Organ-on-Chip, interviews with pioneers in the field, and other interesting reports and articles with many contributions from hDMT researchers....

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