Category: Projects

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Recordings and presentations PSIS workshop on Organ-on-Chip now available

If you were not able to join the workshop Putting Science into Standards (PSIS) on standardization of Organ-on-Chip, please have a look at the presentations and discussions on the CEN-CENELEC website.

On 28-29 April 2021 the Putting Science into Standards (PSIS) workshop on Organ-on-Chip was held online. This workshop was organized by CEN-CENELEC and JRC in collaboration with experts of the Advisory board, including members of hDMT and EUROoCS. Many stakeholders from the Organ-on-Chip field, including developers, regulators and end users from industry were guiding or actively contributing to the online discussions in the different parallel sessions . At the end of the workshop the conclusions and perspectives for the way forward were summarized. The PSIS workshop was a very good kick-off for the standardization process of Organ-on-Chip.

On the event’s webpage post-event material including part of the recordings and the speaker’s presentations are published.

The report of the workshop is in preparation and the outcome will be used as starting point for the development of the Organ-on-Chip standardization roadmap.

 

 

 

 

 

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3Rs student grants 2021: call for submissions

The European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) supports students and young scientists with outstanding work in the field of alternative approaches to attend a high-profile scientific event.

Every year, several high-profile international meetings bring together world-class scientists working on the development and acceptance of 3R alternatives to animal testing (Replacement, Reduction or Refinement). Costs linked to participation may prevent students with promising work or young scientists at the beginning of their career from attending these events. The EPAA partners are therefore happy to sponsor the 3Rs student grants to facilitate the participation of students and young scientists in such events. Deadline July 12th, 2021.

A jury will assess the applications and propose a list of selected candidates to the EPAA steering committee. The jury will be composed of 4 members (two from the industry and two from the European Commission) who will judge.

For each of the eligible events, a lump sum of €1500 is available. Two levels of grants are offered by the EPAA partners: 1 half grant and 1 full grant.

A half grant covers the reimbursement of the event registration fees for the student/young scientist as well as travel and accommodation fees, based on the expense receipts up to a maximum of €500.
A full grant covers the reimbursement of the event registration fees for the student/young scientist as well as travel and accommodation fees, up to a maximum total amount of €1000, based on the expense receipts.

For Eligibility, Application and selection process details see the European Commission website.

Source: European Commission website.

 

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2021 edition of the ‘Putting Science into Standards’ (PSIS) workshop open for registration

Since 2013, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC) and the European Standardization Organizations CEN and CENELEC have carried out an annual joint ‘foresight on standardization’ action under the Putting Science into Standards (PSIS) initiative. The PSIS initiative aims to facilitate the identification of emerging science and technology areas that could benefit from standardization activities to enable innovation and promote industrial competitiveness.

The 2021 PSIS edition will be focusing on Organ-on-Chip (OoC). This event aims to facilitate the exchange of views on the future development of this technology, its application areas and stakeholder needs in order to identify how European standardization can support its safe, widescale deployment, and by doing so also:

• facilitate their implementation in the current and future regulatory framework;
• support with reliable methods that are even more critical for use of OoC in emergency situations, when drug/vaccine development and testing procedures are necessary, as in the current COVID-19 drug rush;
• strengthen Europe’s position as leader in the promotion of more ethical use of animals in testing;
• help European OoC start-ups to increase their reliability and their market share.

For whom: Researchers, Innovators, Industry, Standardisers, Policy makers.

Registration: save your seat and register through the event website.

Resources: Download the event programme and brochure.

Hashtag: #Standards4OoC

Organisers:
The European Commission – Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Contact: Andreas JENET, Project Officer, Scientific Development Unit
The European Standardization Organizations: CEN and CENELEC
Contact: Samira NIK, Project Manager – Innovation; Livia MIAN, Project Manager – Innovation

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Call for partners Cost Action ‘Advanced Microfluidics Initiative’

Prof. Dr. Peter Ertl from TU Wien (Austria) is looking for partners to build a COST consortium in the field of microfluidics, called Advanced Microfluidics Initiative (AMI). Interested? Please contact the proposal coordinators as soon as possible!

COST action: Advanced Microfluidics Initiative (AMI)

Proposal coordinators:
Dr. Helene Zirath (Technische Universität Wien-TUW)
Univ. Prof. Dr. Peter Ertl (Technische Universität Wien-TUW)

Project idea:
The ADVANCED MICROFLUIDICS INITIATIVE (AMI) sets out to give the diagnostics community more weight at the international level and gain competitive visibility at the European level by means of superregional cooperation. Another essential aspect of the initiative is continuous education and training of the next generation of researchers, analytical chemists, biomedical engineers and bioengineers for the microfluidic job market. AMI intends to bundle complementary expertise ranging from microfluidics, biosensing and diagnostic assays optimization to offer the European research and development landscape a communication/ networking platform that (a) fosters exchange of ideas between academic, industry and regulatory stakeholders, (b) enables network building for young scientists, (c) encourages industrial to academic partnerships, and (d) provides training and continuous education opportunities for next generation of skilled workers. The added value of our COST-AMI initiative is the synergetic use of existing European infrastructures, expertise and technologies that covers the entire value chain from idea to design and via rapid prototyping from functional prototype to scale-up production. We strongly believe that only by engaging in direct technological exchange and collaborations, rapid implementation and translation of projects is possible in half the time and with significantly reduced costs. In other words, new ideas and diagnostic concepts in medical/clinical, food, life style and environmental testing can be quickly realized by academic partners to demonstrate feasibility and translated by industrial partners into commercial applications. This means that AMI will actively contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development GOAL #3 (Good health and well-being) and GOAL #6 (Clean water and sanitation). More importantly, the COST AMI platform will increase the readiness level of the European academic and industrial key players to respond to future pandemic outbreaks. Additionally, AMI initiative focuses on intensifying cooperation with diagnostic start-ups to aid in the development marketable products under GMP and ISO certification on an industrial scale.

We are looking for partners to complete the AMI consortium for the following activities needed to go from idea via rapid prototyping to functional prototype and pilot system to production and product.

Working Group WG1: Materials & (bio)interfaces
Topics of this working group involves the application of novel functional and multi-functional materials as well as smart materials. The aim of WG1 is the evaluation of material properties needed for POC devices and establishment reliable and robust functionalization strategies.

WG2: Bioassay miniaturization & biosensor integration
Topics of this working group involves the evaluation and optimization of biosensor performance and system periphery as well as bioassay miniaturization. The goal of this working group is the integration of single-and multi-cell cultures and the establishment of functional readouts of optical, electrical and magnet biosensors.

WG3: Rapid Prototyping & manufacturing technologies
Topics of this WG includes the combination and harmonization of device fabrication technologies. This includes CAD, device simulation, and the generation of guidelines from prototyping to scale-up production. The goal of this WG is the establishment of on-chip proof-of-concept studies and the assessment of feasibility of the developed biomaterials and integrated bioassays for industrial mass production.

WG4: Regulatory aspects & data security/IT
Topics of this working group includes the incorporation of regulatory guidelines as well as the standardization according to national, international and institutional regulations (GMP, ISO certification). Further, the WG takes care of the key aspects in data assessment, accessibility and security of generated knowledge. The goal of this WG involves state-of-the-art data acquisition, storage and documentation (Telemedicine) as well the analysis of the diagnostic device and POC market.

About COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) in short:
Main objective: COST Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and beyond and enable researchers and innovators to grow their ideas in any science and technology field by sharing them with their peers. COST Actions are bottom-up networks with a duration of four years that boost research, innovation and careers.

Duration: 4 years
Deadline: November 13th, 2020
Web link: www.cost.eu

Why should you join such a project?
• The project is a perfect opportunity to connect Europe wide and share knowledge on top scientific level
• Find partners for further collaborations and publications
• Enable short term scientific missions for your Early Stage Researchers

Contact:

Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Peter Ertl, peter.ertl@tuwien.ac.at
Dr.techn. Helene Zirath, MSc., helene.zirath@tuwien.ac.at
Nikolaus Ladenhauf, nikolaus.ladenhauf@bnn.at

 

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Moore4Medical kicks off to bring open technology platforms in organs-on-chip

Last June, 2020 the ECSEL Joint Undertaking Moore4Medical kicked off with the overarching objective to accelerate innovation in electronic medical devices.

Led by Philips and masterminded by prof. Ronald Dekker (Philips Research, and ECTM group TU Delft), Moore4Medical (https://moore4medical.eu/) will run for three years and will address emerging medical applications and technologies that offer significant new opportunities for the Electronic Systems & Components (ECS) industry. These include: bioelectronic medicines, organs-on-chip, drug adherence monitoring, smart ultrasound, radiation-free interventions and continuous monitoring. The new technologies will help fighting the increasing cost of healthcare by reducing the need for hospitalisation, helping to develop personalized therapies, and realising intelligent point-of-care diagnostic tools.

Moore4Medical brings together 66 selected companies, universities and institutes from 12 European countries who will develop open technology platforms for those emerging fields to help them bridge “the Valley of Death” in shorter time and at lower cost. An essential concept at the core of Moore4Medical, open technology platforms used by multiple users for multiple applications with the prospect of medium-to-high volume markets represent an attractive proposition for the European ECS industry. The combination of typical MedTech and Pharma applications with an ECS style platform approach is at the heart of the vision and mission of the Health.E lighthouse (https://www.health-lighthouse.eu/). Open technology platforms will enhance the competitiveness for the emerging medical domains. With value and IP moving from the technology level towards applications and solutions, defragmentation and open technology platforms will be key in acquiring and maintaining a premier position for Europe at the forefront of affordable healthcare.

Within Moore4Medical, the second workpackage is dedicated to the development of open technology platforms for organs-on-chip. Led by Dr. Massimo “Max” Mastrangeli (ECTM, TU Delft), the organs-on-chip workpackage involves 25 partners (see also full list at the bottom) and aims at the development of three advanced platforms:

1) an autonomous smart multi-well plate, which will have the familiar shape of a standard titer plate, and will contain micropumps and microfluidic infrastructures to provide perfusion and electronics to drive the micropumps, integrated readout sensors and wireless data transfer;
2) a high-definition electrophysiology multi-well plate to bridge the gap between advanced high electrode count integrated circuits and the world of biology and pharma by means of advanced microfluidic fan-out technologies integrated into the well plate;
3) a non-disposable smart multi-well lid, useable in combination with standard plates as well as the smart multi-well plates, which will contain micropumps and sensors that monitor in situ and in a parallel fashion monitor the medium of cell cultures in incubators.

The proposed platforms will be validated in a realistic setting with relevant cell cultures. The universal and fit-for-purpose nature of the smart multi-well plate will be demonstrated with three different organ-on-chip devices from three different manufacturers. In an additional innovation track, novel sensors and organ-on-chip devices will be developed to ensure continuous innovation by bringing advanced sensing and complex organ and disease models to future smart multi-well plates. Furthermore, the DEPArrayTM technology by Menarini Silicon Biosystems for the isolation of 100% pure single live cells from heterogeneous samples will be improved by a dedicated sensing platform for the detection and classification of rare cells, such as, but not limited to, circulating tumor cells.

Topping this off, Moore4Medical’s introduction of open technology platforms in organs-on-chip, as well as the specific attention dedicated to manufacturing and biotechnological aspects related to standardization, automation and ease of use of organs-on-chip, directly implement explicit and important recommendations for a fast and efficient progress of the field. These important recommendations were outlined by the prior ORCHID H2020 CSA project (https://h2020-orchid.eu/) in documents and workshops that laid the foundation of the European roadmap for organs-on-chip development and of the European Organs-on-Chip Society (https://www.euroocs.eu/).

Partners in the Moore4Medical’s WP2 (Organs-on-Chip):
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft, the Netherlands – leader)
Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, the Netherlands)
Philips Electronics Netherlands (PEN, the Netherlands)
TNO/Holst Centre (TNO, the Netherlands)
BI/OND (the Netherlands)
Besi Netherlands (BESI-NL, the Netherlands)
Micronit Netherlands (MIC-NL, the Netherlands)
Imec Belgium (Belgium)
Multi Channel Systems (MCS, Germany)
Fraunhofer EMFT (FEMFT, Germany)
Microfluidic ChipShop (MFCS, Germany)
Menarini Silicon Biosystems (MSB, Italy)
BEonChip (BEOC, Spain)
Institute for Health Research (IISA, Spain)
University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR, Spain)
Institute of Telecommunication (ITAV, Portugal)
Institute of Engineering and Computer Engineering (INESC-MN, Portugal)
Besi Austria (BESI-AT, Austria)
EV Group (EVG, Austria)
Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM, Switzerland)
InSphero (Switzerland)
National Institute for R&D in Microtechnologies (IMT, Romania)
MicroLIQUID (Spain)
Center for Energy Research (CER, Hungary)
Aedus (AED, Hungary)

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3Rs Science Prize 2020 Call for submissions

The European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) is proud to announce that a call for submissions is now open for its 2020 3Rs Science Prize.

Application deadline: 5 October 2020 at 12:00 (noon) Brussels time

The EPAA aims to promote the development, validation and acceptance of 3Rs alternative approaches (replacement, reduction and refinement of testing on animals). The 3Rs science prize is granted every two years to a scientist with an outstanding contribution to the 3Rs. We want to promote positive contributions from industry or academia and encourage more scientists to focus their research on the 3Rs goals. Scientists working on relevant methods for regulatory testing (e.g. safety, efficacy, batch testing) that provide an outstanding contribution to the use of the 3Rs may apply for the prize.

A selection board (composed by EPAA members and representatives of the EPAA Mirror Group) will evaluate the submissions, provide the EPAA steering committee with the results of the evaluation and give a recommendation on the ranking of the submissions. Based on this recommendation, the Steering Committee will select the winner, to whom the prize of €10,000 will be awarded.
The prize will be granted to the institution of the winner to be announced at the EPAA Annual Conference, on 10 November 2020. The winner will have the opportunity to present his/her work at the 2020 EPAA Annual Conference, gathering regulators, industry stakeholders, academia and civil society. Applicants should, therefore, confirm that they are available on 10 November 2020 to present their work at the Annual Conference if they win. Their travel and accommodation will be paid for by EPAA.

For more details on selection criteria, application process and time-line see EPAA 3Rs Science Prize 2020 Call for submissions and the EC-website.

Source: EC-website

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Planned novel Open Access journal format

A planned novel Open Access journal format that combines for the first time publishing with funding.

Plan S is an initiative for Open Access publishing that was launched in September 2018 with the support of the European Commission and the European Research Council (ERC) by an international consortium of research funders. Plan S requires that, from 2021, scientific publications that result from research funded by public grants must be published in compliant Open Access journals or platforms.

This development requires that – within relatively short time – high impact Plan S compliant Open Access journals become available as alternatives to current subscription based high impact journals.

Towards this goal, a group of European scientists, headed by Stefan Krauss form Oslo and including leading scientists from the European Organ-on-Chip Society (EUROoCS), have joined forces to create a novel experimental Open Access journal format that combines – for the first time – publishing and funding. By combining those two features in one format, the group of scientists hopes to be able to attract potential high impact manuscripts while facilitating and simplifying fund raising. The success of the new format will depend on sponsoring of the funding by research organizations, and on a high scoring editorial board. Ongoing discussions are encouraging.

The journal format is planned to be administrated by a scientist driven non-profit foundation that is responsible for sponsor interface, technology and contingency, while the thematic Open Access journals are planned to be driven by scientific or editorial societies. The specialized journal about Micro Physiological Systems/Organ-on-Chip might become the official journal of EUROoCS.

The flyer shows the details of the planned scheme.

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Impression of the ORCHID Strategy workshop

Following up on the ORCHID Vision workshop, the ORCHID Strategy workshop was held in Leiden, the Netherlands on 17 January 2019. 32 experts from academia, innovation hubs, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, patient organizations, ethics school, biotech companies and regulatory agencies attended the workshop. They represented developers, end users and regulators in the Organ-on-Chip (OoC) field in Europe. The workshop was organized by Janny van den Eijnden-van Raaij from hDMT (work package leader Roadmap) and chaired by Christine Mummery from LUMC (coordinator).

The aim of this workshop was to define the concrete goals and milestones of the OoC roadmap, and the strategy to reach them. During two brainstorm sessions, expert groups focused on four specific application domains: personalized medicine, drug efficacy, drug toxicity and disease mechanisms. The groups addressed domain-specific issues from the perspective of both developers and of end users and regulators. The specific building blocks of the OoC roadmap were identified and the general aspects of the roadmap were also discussed, such as ethical concerns, training of the next generation OoC researchers, dissemination and communication.

It was again a very useful meeting, that positively contributed to the strengthening of the network and building of the OoC ecosystem in Europe. The report of the ORCHID Strategy workshop is currently in preparation and will be publicly available in short time.

 

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UK Report on accelerating Organ-on-Chip technology development

The NC3Rs, Medicines Discovery Catapult and the University of Liverpool MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science (CDSS) have published a report outlining recommendations to accelerate the adoption of Organ-on-Chip technologies in order to revolutionize drug target identification and validation studies without the need for animals.

This report is the outcome of a workshop that was held in Liverpool in May 2018 with representatives from different stakeholder organizations, setting out opportunities to progress Organ-on-Chip technology within the UK. More

Download the full workshop report here.

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ORCHID Questionnaire on training needs of the next generation OoC reseachers and technicians

Within the ORCHID project, the main goal is to create a roadmap for organ-on-chip technology and to build a network of all relevant stakeholders in this promising innovative field.

By identifying you as a stakeholder, we would like to draw your attention concerning the training needs of the next generation of researchers and technicians in the Organ-on-a-chip field. We invite you to give us your opinion on this by answering this 15 minute questionnaire.

Feel free to disseminate this questionnaire within your network of interested researchers in universities, research institutes, industries, hospitals and regulatory bodies so that they could share their views too. We thank you very much for your contribution.