CN Bio and the Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON) have signed a research collaboration focused on validating the ‘next generation’ of COVID-19 research tools.
iiCON – a £174m programme uniting industry, academia and clinicians – is led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), and its partner members include Unilever, Evotec, Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust, University of Liverpool and Infex Therapeutics.
Under the terms of the deal, iiCON’s lead partner LSTM will independently validate CN Bio’s novel lung and lung-liver models, which are designed to advance novel SARS-CoV-2 drug discovery and development.
“iiCON’s commitment to collaborative innovation has enabled our pioneering partnership with consortium lead, LSTM. This collaboration will provide access to the institute’s world-leading expertise in infectious disease research, in addition to the consortium’s outstanding industry links,” said Tomasz Kostrzewski, director of Biology, CN Bio
“As a result of this collaboration, it is our joint intention that the data generated will be published, providing us with proof that supports the adoption of PhysioMimix microphysiological systems into industry, where they can be used as translational tools to accelerate understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection and consequently, accelerate the development of new therapeutic options,” he added.
“As part of the consortium, LSTM is delighted to be entering into this key agreement with CN Bio. By leveraging emerging organ-on-a-chip technology, we aim to develop pre-clinical platforms that accelerate translational research of new therapeutics to manage and treat major human infections, including emerging and high consequence infectious diseases such SARS-COV-2,” commented professor Giancarlo Biagini, iiCON platform lead, head of the Department of Tropical Disease Biology at LSTM.
