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Predicting idiosyncratic toxicity using rat liver microtissues in 96-well plates

InSphero and Cell Culture Service enter partnership

DECHEMA 3D Cell Culture symposium, March 14-16, 2012 in Zurich, Switzerland – first announcement & call for papers

Synergize your drug testing expertise by joining the TEDD competence centre kick-off meeting on June 21, 2011 in Wädenswil, Switzerland

Bring your expertise in oncology to InSphero – join our growing team

Meet InSphero at BIO in Washington, June 27-30

Predicting idiosyncratic toxicity using rat liver microtissues in 96-well plates
Although idiosyncratic adverse drug reactions are rare they represent a significant risk for healthcare and industry. Liver inflammatory cells, in addition to genetic and environmental factors, are known to mediate such adverse reactions. So far, inflammation-mediated toxicity has only been successfully reproduced experimentally in animal models. InSphero’s organotypic rat liver microtissue platform provides the first high throughput in vitro model shown to be capable of detecting inflammation-related idiosyncratic effects.
The toxicological effect of Trovafloxacin and Ranitidine were tested either with or without Kupffer cell* stimulation using LPS. An increased toxicological effect could clearly be seen in the LPS-treated cultures.
Predicting idiosyncratic effects is a serious challenge for the pharmaceutical industry. Here, for the first time, we show that a robust and affordable in vitro liver model, designed for high throughput data generation, is capable of reproducing inflammation-mediated idiosyncratic toxicity.
To organise a pilot study with your compounds using InSphero rat liver microtissues please contact us. To find more details download our white paper here.

*Presence of Kupffer cells was verified by LPS stimulation which resulted in an upregulation of IL-6 secretion simulating an inflammatory event.



InSphero and Cell Culture Service enter partnership
InSphero AG and Cell Culture Service GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) have signed a commercial cooperation agreement to foster the implementation of 3D-cell-culture technologies in pharmaceutical development. Both companies will join forces in customer projects to deliver next-generation, organotypic cell-based models for compound de-risking. Custom supplier CCS has an excellent track record for more than 10 years in recombinant cell lines, frozen cells, membranes and proteins. Please check out CCS's website at www.cellcultureservice.com for more information.

DECHEMA 3D Cell Culture symposium, March 14-16, 2012 in Zurich, Switzerland – first announcement & call for papers
InSphero is supporting this 2.5-day symposium covering the latest developments in 3D-cell-culture technology. The deadline for submission of abstracts and more information can be found on the official symposium website. If you would like to meet InSphero or visit our labs during this event, please let us know in advance.

Synergize your drug testing expertise by joining the TEDD competence centre kick-off meeting on June 21, 2011 in Wädenswil, Switzerland
The Tissue Engineering for Drug Development (TEDD) competence centre offers a national platform to support the advancement of new technologies for drug testing in the pharmaceutical industry and in personalised medicine. The Tissue Engineering and Cell Culture Technology section of the ZHAW and the industry partner InSphero AG form the core of the competence centre. This meeting is aimed at bringing on board new partners and initiating collaborative ventures. Registration is free. More information is available here.

Bring your expertise in oncology to InSphero – join our growing team
InSphero is looking for an experienced and highly motivated Product Manager to further grow our products and services in oncology. If you would relish a new challenge in an entrepreneurial and fast-growing company, we would like to hear from you! Please find the full job advertisement here.

Meet InSphero at BIO in Washington, June 27-30
We would be happy to discuss specific applications and solutions in your space with you one-to-one at the BIO Business Forum in Washington, DC from June 27-30. If you are attending BIO, please use the partnering web site to arrange a meeting with us.