Medicyte has started operational activities to provide and qualify different types of upcyte liver cells for use in the multi-international Hepatic Microfluidic Bioreactor (HeMiBio) project.
HeMiBio is an artificial liver that may be more predictive for human liver toxicity and liver metabolism of drugs than current in vitro and animal models.
Using its upcyte technology, Medicyte has succeeded in generating quasi human primary cells (upcyte cells).
As Medicyte’s upcyte hepatocytes are functionally equivalent to human primary liver cells and can be provided in unmet high quantities of consistent quality, it is ideal for the development of the artificial liver system ‘HeMiBio’.
The development of the HeMiBio is a project, involving 12 partners from seven countries.
HeMiBio is part of the European Research Initiative ‘Safety Evaluation Ultimately Replacing Animal Testing’ (SEURAT) and is one of six projects, financed by European Commission’s FP7 Health program and the ‘European Cosmetics Association’ (COLIPA), that target the replacement of animal safety testing with appropriate in vitro methods.