InSphero Blog
Read our latest blogposts
Diversity in Preclinical Research is Science not Politics: A Key to Safer and More Effective Drug Development
In recent years, “diversity” has often been discussed in societal and political contexts, sometimes creating misconceptions about its role in science and technology. However, within the field of preclinical drug development, patient diversity is not a political buzzword - it
Alternative Animal Models: Advancing the 3Rs in Preclinical Drug Testing
Animal Microphysiological Systems (MPS) provide ethical, in vitro alternatives to animal testing, advancing the 3Rs—Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement. InSphero’s XSpecies Consortium demonstrates how liver MPS can predict species-specific toxicities, bridging the gap between animal and human responses to support drug
The FDA Modernization Act 3.0: Paving the Way for a New Era in Drug Development or a Gentle Nudge?
In a significant step toward making drug development more patient-centric, the FDA Modernization Act 3.0 was introduced as a major piece of forward-looking legislation in February 2024. For stakeholders across the biopharmaceutical industry, including companies like InSphero that specialize in
Understanding the DILI Risks of Antisense Oligonucleotides and the Value of Predictive In Vitro Testing
Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) offer therapeutic avenues for diseases that are currently unmet by alternative therapeutic modalities. However, the development of therapeutic ASOs is often hampered by hepatotoxicity. In this blog, we explore why 3D human liver microtissues are becoming an
Testing Drug-induced Mitochondrial Toxicity in 3D InSight™ Human Liver Microtissues
Toxicological studies show that drugs can alter mitochondrial functions, potentially resulting in a deleterious range of toxic reactions from the induction of micro- and macrovesicular steatosis to lactic acidosis. These clinical manifestations are the consequence of drugs interfering with four
WHAT! Tissue Loss? InSphero Experts on Preventing Tissue Loss in Akura™ Spheroid Microplates
Ensuring that spheroids are intact during liquid exchange is not fun and certainly not easy. That’s why we developed our Akura™ Microplates with a special feature to make your life much easier: The SureXchange™ well design enables optimal protection of
The MASH CALL Initiative: A Strategic Pathway for Screening and Selecting Drug Candidates to Assemble IND Packages for Regulatory Approval
One of the challenges in drug discovery is to reduce drug attrition rates by identifying the best candidates early on. There is a need for advanced in vitro 3D models that predict future clinical responses reliably. These models need to
Navigating the Trade-offs in DILI Assessment: A Closer Look at Complexity, Cost, and Scalability
Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) remains a significant challenge in the development of safe and effective pharmaceuticals. The complexity of DILI assessment in the preclinical phase is compounded by the need for solutions that balance cost, throughput, and turnaround time without
The Model of Excellence in 3D Cell Culture Research:
Scalable, Reliable, and Reproducible
To 2D or 3D Cell Culture - that is no longer the question.
It has become evident that 3D cell-based assays outmatch traditional 2D monolayer cell cultures, as they enable cells to grow into three-dimensional structures that more closely
Measuring AST Levels in Preclinical Safety Studies In Vitro – Closing the Gap to Clinical Data
InSphero's Scientific Ambassador Sue Grepper, Ph.D., highlights how to recapitulate clinically observed increases of Aspartate Transaminase (AST) levels in preclinical in vitro safety studies. If you have experienced a clinical study where your developed therapeutics resulted in increased levels of
Shipping Live 3D In Vitro Spheroids Around the World with InFloat™ Shipping System
InSphero Head of Operations David Fluri explains how our new award-winning InFloat™ shipping system helps make 3D in vitro cell technology more accessible to researchers worldwide. Did you know InSphero was the first biotech company to successfully ship live 3D
The Power of Islet Standardization for Diabetes Research
InSphero Islet Biology Scientists review how multi-parametric approaches for in vitro pancreatic research have the potential to revolutionize diabetes research. In this article, we take a closer look at the Power of Islet Standardization for Diabetes Research. Over the past
A Novel Hanging Drop Organ-on-a-Chip System for Diabetes Drug Discovery
InSphero has a rich history of collaborating with researchers at ETH Zürich. The most recent example is a joint effort to develop and apply a novel Hanging Drop Organ-on-a-Chip System to study insulin release dynamics for diabetes drug discovery. Our
Microfluidics: Scalable
Organ-on-Chip Systems
Microfluidics expert Dr. Olivier Frey, VP of Technology & Platforms, discusses scalable organ-on-chip systems and explains how higher-order systems, such as multi-tissue Body-on-a-Chip networks, have the potential to faithfully replicate physiological interactions among different human organs -and what hurdles remain
The Future of High Content Analysis is 3D
InSphero recently had an opportunity to test the Yokogawa Platform for 3D High Content Analysis (HCA) in our laboratories in Schlieren, Switzerland. Our goal was to see whether the Yokogawa instrument could meet our demanding requirements for imaging and analysis
Experimental Design Considerations for MASH Drug Screening
An ongoing challenge in NASH Drug Discovery is selecting "fit for purpose" models for preclinical drug screening. InSphero liver expert Sue Grepper and Head of Liver Solutions Eva Thoma recently wrote a GEN tutorial on this topic to help NASH
3D cell-based technologies in Immuno-Oncology: are traditional in vitro assays for Oncology drug discovery obsolete?
InSphero Oncology Experts Francesca Chiovaro and Irina Agarkova often collaborate closely with academic and pharma partners who are developing therapeutics that target the innate immune system. In this blog, Francesca shares what she and Irina have learned about the influence of
Can an In Vitro MASH endpoint be truly predictive of the in vivo response?
Model systems, whether laboratory animals or human cell-based systems, have long been central to the discovery and development of new and better drugs for the treatment of human disease. But some complex diseases, such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), are more
Are Animal MASH models slowing us down?
InSphero Senior Application Scientist Sue Grepper explains why critical limitations of dietary and genetically modified rodent models for NASH may be slowing down drug discovery efforts in this blog. She elaborates on some of the challenges of using animal models
Scalable In Vitro MASH Models: Paving the Way to Cure Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis
InSphero CEO Jan Lichtenberg and renowned liver disease expert Dr. Scott Friedman of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai recently talked to PharmaExec magazine about how to resolve a key bottleneck in NASH R&D. In this blog, Jan
Developing a multi-tissue platform for embryotoxicity testing
InSphero's Akura™ technology platforms team worked with Professor Andreas Hierlemann's Bioengineering Laboratory at ETH Zürich to develop a microfluidic hanging drop system for embryotoxicity testing. What can we help you create? In this blog post, I'd like to tell you
Disruptive 3D Cell Technology Drives Innovative Diabetes R&D at ADA2019
InSphero CEO Jan Lichtenberg reflects on ADA2019 and how InSphero is enabling T1D and T2D Discovery with our 3D InSight™ Diabetes Discovery Platform. Over the past few years, diabetes R&D has become a key application for our 3D InSight™ technology,
Microfluidics: The Technology Behind Organ-on-a-Chip Systems
Microfluidic chips enable researchers to manipulate, image, and analyze small tissue constructs under optimal culturing conditions. Microfluidics, the technology behind emerging body-on-a-chip and organs-on-chips systems, is poised to transform the way we do drug discovery and drug safety testing. But
Can 3D in vitro models accelerate MASH and Fibrosis drug discovery?
Pharma companies racing to accelerate drug discovery for chronic liver diseases, such as NASH and fibrosis, need better preclinical testing tools for compound screening and mechanistic studies. Here's how next-generation in vitro of 3D cell models will help. Recently, InSphero
Re-aggregated Human Islets: The Gold Standard in 3D In Vitro Model for Diabetes Research
Correlating human pancreas donor characteristics with 3D InSight™ Islet Microtissue functionality confirms reaggregated islets are a robust, physiologically relevant model for diabetes research. With diabetes approaching epidemic proportions globally, there is an ever-increasing need for anti-diabetic drugs and therapies that
Improving preclinical models for MASH Drug Discovery
In honor of the inaugural International NASH Day, Insphero explains why we need better preclinical models for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) disease drug discovery. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most prevalent liver diseases worldwide. Experts estimate that approximately
Comprehensive evaluation of 3D spheroid hepatic cultures for DILI prediction: A Study by AstraZeneca and Genentech
In their peer-reviewed paper, titled “Utility of spherical human liver microtissues for prediction of clinical drug-induced liver injury”, Will Proctor, Alison Foster, Simon Messner, Dominic Williams, and several other notable experts in the field, published a landmark study comparing 2D
InSphero Akura™ Flow: Transforming Drug Discovery and Development with Organ-on-a-Chip Technology
InSphero Akura™ Flow body-on-a-chip technology may help make animal testing in pharma and cosmetic companies obsolete How can we better predict how new drugs act in the human body? This was the main question when we started our publicly funded