The UNLOOC project (Unlocking the data content of Organ-on-Chips), launched in May 2024 in Germany, is a three-year initiative focused on creating Organ-on-Chips (OOC) technologies to reduce animal testing and bridge the gender gap in drug development. Funded by the Chips Joint Undertaking and national agencies, the project uses human cells to enhance personalized medicine and tackle gender disparities inherent in clinical research. Spinverse supported the consortium during the project proposal phase and is now taking care of the daily administration of this fascinating project.
Animal testing, critical for drug validation before human trials, faces issues such as low human applicability, excessive costs, high failure rates in clinical trials and ethical concerns regarding the millions of animals exposed to drug testing. UNLOOC seeks to improve drug testing methods using human cell models to circumvent these serious issues.
Bringing together 51 entities from 10 countries across Europe and with a 68M€ total budget, UNLOOC intends to demonstrate through its five use cases how OOC technology can create more effective treatments, leaving animal subjects out of the equation. The OOC systems will also model disease pathophysiology, offering a more controlled approach to drug testing. The project receives 14M€ in funding from the EU Chips Joint Undertaking, 3M€ from Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), 18M€ from national agencies and 33M€ from partners' own contribution.
OOC technology replicates human organ functions on a miniature scale, using microfluidic channels and living cells, thus providing a potent tool for drug development and disease research.
The UNLOOC project consortium is coordinated by Dr. Claudia Gärtner, CEO at microfluidic ChipShop GmbH. UNLOOC is set to transform OOC technology by incorporating cells from specific populations or individual patients, facilitating personalized therapies and addressing gaps in traditional clinical studies. She says: “A key argument for using OOC systems is the direct use of human cells, which means that the effect of substances on the real target can be evaluated. In addition, cells from target groups or even individual patients can be implemented in such systems, and the combination with induced pluripotent stem cells can be easily achieved.”
Dr. Gärtner continues: “Keeping in mind that most clinical studies involve healthy males as test persons, our approach is a real game changer by bridging the gender gap and introducing experiments for drugs meant for infants and females.” The outcomes of the UNLOOC project will provide tools not only for testing new drug candidates but also for setting up disease models to develop therapies in a relevant and controlled environment.
Spinverse’s health domain experts initially supported UNLOOC with project planning, consortium building and project proposal writing in this competitive KDT funding call (currently known as Chips JU). The project preparation work from Spinverse was led by Senior Project Manager Juho Vuononvirta. Spinverse is now continuing to support the consortium with daily administration and communication services, driven by Project Manager Malin Tverin.
Dr. Gärtner says: “It was a pleasure working closely with Juho in the preparation of the proposal and it was amazing how the Spinverse team delivered on point. Now, being in the project phase with a multitude of technical and admin activities running in parallel, I am grateful to have Malin as seasoned project manager at my side. I can only say Thank you!”
The UNLOOC project's advancements will serve scientists in academia and the pharmaceutical industry by aiding in the development of safer drugs and cosmetics, and by providing valuable insights into the research of diseases. With OOC's market rapidly growing, these breakthroughs are expected to bolster Europe's leadership in this critical research area.
More information on the UNLOOC website: www.unlooc.eu
This project is supported by the Chips Joint Undertaking (Grant Agreement No. 101140192) and its members including the top-up funding of Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain. This work has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
Funded by the European Union and the national funding authorities of the participating countries. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Chips JU and the respective funding bodies. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.