Imec partners in European initiative to develop Organs-on-Chip

Leuven, October 30 2017 – The world-leading research and innovation hub in nano-electronics and digital technologies imec announced today that is has joined ORCHID, a European initiative that will establish a European infrastructure to enable coordinated development, production and implementation of Organs-on-Chips by a consortium of academic and private partners. In total six leading European research institutions are involved.

The aim is to accelerate the societal and economic impact of Organ-on-Chip technology through coordinated action. Organs-on-Chips combine human mini-organs with microelectronics, microfluidics and nanosensors. This technology is already providing new platforms for drug discovery but is poised to deliver applications in personalized medicine and safety pharmacology, and offers alternatives to conventional animal testing. Over the next two years, the EU will invest 0.5 million Euros in the ORgan-on-CHip In Development (ORCHID) project.

ORCHID will facilitate dialogue and documentation towards accelerating the development of prototypes of Organs-on-Chips, validated cell systems that mimic diseased or healthy human tissue, and implementation of this technology by a broad group of potential users in science, health care and industry.

ORCHID will build an infrastructure for scientists, policy makers, funders and end-users to join the decision-making processes that will direct future European developments in Organ-on-Chip applications. An essential contribution of ORCHID will be the establishment of a digital platform enabling knowledge sharing between researchers and representatives of private corporations including insurance companies, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, food industry, health foundations and patient organizations.

The ORCHID platform will provide overviews and updates of current and new Organ-on-Chip initiatives so that users can track progress easily, consult developers directly and identify gaps in present knowledge, limiting implementation. ORCHID will also address ethical and regulatory issues, particularly concerning personalized information, economic and societal impact, training of researchers, and the design of an R&D ‘roadmap’.

The consortium is composed of the following organizations:

1. Leiden University Medical Center (the Netherlands): coordinator

contact: Christine Mummery, PhD, Professor of Developmental Biology,
Chair Dept. of Anatomy

2. Organ-on-Chip consortium hDMT (the Netherlands): strategy and the roadmap

contact: Janny van den Eijnden van Raaij, PhD, Managing director

3. Fraunhofer IGB (Germany): impact assessment, training, education

contact: Peter Loskill, PhD, Attract Group Manager Organ-on-a-Chip,
Department of Cell and Tissue Engineering

4. CEA (France): eco-system development and the digital platform

contact: Adrienne Pervès PhD, Deputy Head of Department-LETI-Technologies for biology and health & Nathalie Picollet D’Hahan, PhD, Deputy Head Biomics Laboratory.

5. imec (Belgium): ethical aspects, regulation and standardization

contact: Wolfgang Eberle, PhD, Funded Program Manager Smart Health and NERF
Coordinator EIT Health

6. University of Zaragoza (Spain): dissemination

contact: Luis Fernandez, PhD, Professor at the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, microfluidic leader of the Applied Mechanics and Bioengineering group

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 766884

Organs-on-Chips and hDMT

The Organ-on-Chip consortium hDMT (www.hdmt.technology) is a pre-competitive, non-profit, technological research institute with renowned scientists from 14 Dutch organizations (academic research centers, research institutes, University Medical Centers, and biotech companies). In this consortium the hDMT researchers collaborate, share and integrate their knowledge, expertise and research facilities in technology, biology, physics, chemistry, pharmacology and medicine to develop Organs-on-Chips using human stem cells. hDMT aims to disseminate Organ-on-Chip models and research data through open access publication and valorization.