The use of a miniature heart for research on treatments and new drugs for cardiovascular disease has been studied previously. While this development still has a long way to go, the potential added value is already recognized. Research and development cost money, which is not even new.
In that context, it is prize of seven million euros in scholarships for two studies on the development of miniature hearts, so great news. The researchers of the UT Prof. dr. dr. Robert Passier, prof. dr. dr. Jeroen Leijten and his partners can continue their research with these grants.
Money for research on the miniature heart
Robert Passier and his associates – Dr. Janine Post, Dr. Jeroen Leijten (both UT) and Prof. dott. Gert Jan Veenstra (Radboud University) – received a three million NWO XL grant. This will enable them to develop a miniature human heart screening platform for the study of heart disease. In addition, part of the grant will also be used for drug testing using advanced microfluidic droplet technology.
The researchers want to encapsulate the stem cells in hollow miniature hydrogel spheres and create digital twins of miniature hearts using single-cell OMIC analysis. “We aim to produce 100,000 hollow microgels per second. Each microgel is filled with human stem cells that can differentiate into miniature hearts, ”says Passier.
This technology enables the development of an ultra-fast screening platform. This means that heart disease and medications can be tested much faster. “With the digital twins generated in this project, we can both study the development of the heart and predict the heart’s response to drugs,” says Janine Post.
Mini human heart
The remaining four million have been allocated to the EIC Pathfinder Challenge. It is led by EIC-Jeroen Leijten, Robert Passier and River Biomedics (UT spin-off company) as a consortium with NanoScale Systems and the University of Malaga. This consortium is working on a human mini-heart that pumps and a human Bio-Robot that swims. River Biomedicine received for the heart in miniature project in 2020, the Take-Off 2 loan from the NWO.
“We are working on a real miniature heart with a beating chamber. It will be able to expel fluid and allow us to study the pumping function of the heart, “said Passier.” It is extremely exciting that with this project we can combine advanced stem cell protocols with advanced biofabrication technologies as an innovative molding technique and next generation 3D bioprinting to create truly functional living matter, ”adds Leijten.
