Abstract

MPS Platforms with High Operability for Commercialization

Hiroshi Kimura, Associate Professor, Tokai University

Microphysiological systems (MPSs) have been widely studied as a novel method for estimating the effects and toxicities of drugs, providing an alternative to animal tests in drug discovery. In EU and USA, various types of MPS are commercially available by some companies, and more recently, their practical application has been well promoted. Although MPS has been actively researched in Japan, there has been almost no practical MPS to date. Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) has conducted an MPS development project with the aim of commercializing domestically produced MPS since 2017. Our research group has developed two types of MPS, Fluid3D-X and Kinetic pump Integrated Microfluidic Plate, for commercialization in collaboration with Japanese manufacturing companies in the project. Our proposed MPSs are expected to facilitate high quality cell-based assays in drug discovery and biology due to their ease of use and high throughput. In this presentation, I present the overview of these MPS’s functions and examples of the drug evaluation studies using the MPSs.