Welcome to a Sahlgrenska Academy & Molecular Life Science Hybrid Seminar on "Reproductive Organ-On-A-Chip: New Approach Methods to Accelerate Clinical Trials During Pregnancy". Speaker: Professor Ramkumar Menon, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, USA.
Translational Center (TraCe)-Micro Physiologic System (MPS) - Reproduction.
Trace-MPS-R is one of the four NIH-funded project centers that are currently developing drug development tools for accelerating clinical trials. Dr. Menon is the principal investigator and Director of the Center, which is dedicated to developing organ-on-a-chip (OOC) models for reproductive organs. The goal is to develop humanized models for preclinical trials of drugs for use during pregnancy and to avoid the use of unreliable animal models. OOCs developed will include feto-maternal interfaces, the placenta, and lower uterine segments and will be used to develop drug testing platforms. These OOC platforms, cells used, drugs tested, and protocols will be independently validated and verified by an external agency for approval of the device by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for preclinical trials of drugs for use during pregnancy. Drugs tested will be newly developed drugs and drugs for repurposing. Successful development of FDA-approved drug development tools for reproduction, test their pharmacological parameters in a humanized model, and is expected to increase clinical trials during pregnancy.