CN Bio, a leading Organ-on-a-Chip (OOC) company that designs and manufactures single-and multi-organ microphysiological systems (MPS), and LifeNet Health LifeSciences, a non-profit, global leader in human research solutions, will collaborate to supply validated primary human cells for use with CN Bio’s PhysioMimix OOC range of MPS. Under the agreement, LifeNet Health’s high-quality, MPS validated, hepatic cells will be available within CN Bio’s Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) ‘in-a-box’ kit, or direct from LifeNet Health, providing a streamlined solution for customers to recreate the company’s advanced in vitro liver models and maximize assay success.

Ed LeCluyse PhD, Chief Scientist, LifeNet Health LifeSciences, said: “This partnership represents a joint investment to set a new standard for cell quality across the industry, enabling customers across a broad range of market segments to realize the potential of OOC, without the need for costly in-house validation.”

Lot validation in standard static 2D or 3D cell cultures does not guarantee primary cell performance in perfused MPS cultures. Analysis carried out by CN Bio over a five-year period demonstrated that >60% of hepatocyte cell lots across various suppliers failed to meet acceptable performance criteria for MPS assays. Pre-validating cell lots for use in MPS assays is therefore necessary to ensure that robust and reliable human-relevant data can be generated. The validation process itself requires users to factor in additional resource, time and budget to prove cell stability prior to use.

CN Bio and LifeNet Health have formed a partnership to provide PhysioMimix customers with ‘off-the-shelf’ access to well-characterized, MPS-validated hepatic cells that facilitate the delivery of reliable, reproducible results. This partnership aims to alleviate the need for researchers to conduct resource-intensive validation studies and minimize the risk of failed experiments to increase workflow efficiency. Through the partnership, customers will additionally benefit from LifeNet Health’s reputation for providing high quality cells, access to large lots, greater donor diversity, and more complete donor medical and genetic information.

Under the new agreement, CN Bio will use a stringent process to pre-qualify select hepatocyte, stellate, and Kupffer cells proven to thrive in extended 3D MPS culture, maintaining function and phenotype for a minimum of two weeks. To support a range of research requirements, hepatic cells can be purchased via CN Bio’s 3D-validated cells portfolio and NASH-in-a-box kit, or direct from LifeNet Heath.

Tomasz Kostrzewski, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at CN Bio, commented: “LifeNet Health and CN Bio share a commitment to helping researchers bring safer, more effective therapies to patients sooner, with no unnecessary animal testing.

“In our studies, LifeNet Health’s cells have consistently shown high success rates, and we are confident this will lead to more reliable, reproducible results. Our partnership represents an important milestone for existing customers, alongside those looking to adopt OOC technology into their own labs. Validation of cells is a costly and laborious process, but one that is imperative for assay success. Harnessing our combined technical expertise and customer support, we can offer researchers a more complete solution to easily recreate our industry-leading liver models, removing the risk of failed experiments due to untested cells and the burden of in-house quality control testing – so that they can focus their efforts on new discoveries.”

On 30 August CN Bio appointed Kostrzewski as Chief Scientific Officer. He was previously Vice President of Science and Technology at CN Bio.

Ed LeCluyse PhD, Chief Scientist, LifeNet Health LifeSciences

Tomasz Kostrzewski, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, CN Bio