This technology is a biomimetic ex vivo bioreactor with real-time and non-invasive monitoring and quantification for modeling the progression and treatment of airway disease, including cystic fibrosis.
Cystic fibrosis is progressive lung disease characterized by the build-up of thick and sticky mucus in the lung airways and chronic pulmonary inflammation. Current models of cystic fibrosis have limited ability to recapitulate the human lung disease. Animal models fail to simulate pulmonary inflammation; while cell culture models do not accurately reflect the accumulation of mucus. The lack of high-fidelity models remains a significant obstacle to developing curative interventions.
This technology is an air-liquid interface bioreactor that contains tissue explants and bioartificial mucus to recapitulate specific airway diseases, including cystic fibrosis. The bioartificial mucus is benchmarked to the patient sputum to match the thickness, viscosity and hydration of native mucus. This technology is compatible with epifluorescence and light sheet microscopy for real-time non-invasive monitoring the cultured tissues. Bioreactor modularity allows for simultaneous maintenance of numerous tissues for high-throughput screening.
This technology has been validated with human and porcine airway tissues.
Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Ph.D
Patent Pending
IR CU23307, CU23368
Licensing Contact: Beth Kauderer