Cellular models are a main component of drug discovery as they are used all along the drug value chain, from target identification to in vitro ADMETox. Ideally, cellular models would be organotypic and mimicking the in vivo conditions: normal and disease physiology, genetic polymorphism, multicellular and 3D organization, and all organ models would communicate (“human-on-a-chip”) through microfluidics or bioreactors.

Although complex tissue models reflect the in vivo situation more reliably than simpler 2D or 3D systems, the higher the complexity, the lower the throughput. Highly physiological models also raise other problems such as validation, reproducibility, image analysis, maintenance, as well as costs.

At CYTOO, we are trying to reconcile quality and quantity with a bottom up approach: use high-throughput compatible cell models and bring more physiology into them, while keeping their throughput.

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