Replicating the Heart, Revolutionising Discovery

A biomimetic culture device for drug discovery and disease modelling

ADVANCING CARDIAC RESEARCH WITH PRECISION

MyoLoop is a cardiovascular research team from Imperial College London’s National Heart and Lung Institute, exploring the market potential of our cardiac culture device through the BBSRC-NC3Rs-ICURe programme

We want to provide a biologically relevant, in vitro platform for the drug discovery pipeline, resulting in a more predictable and cost-effective process for the pharmaceutical industry, CROs and academic researchers

By replicating the heart’s natural environment, we enable more precise drug testing and accelerate the discovery of new therapeutic targets for cardiac disease

HELP SHAPE THE FUTURE OF CARDIAC RESEARCH

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The Challenge:

A Bottleneck in Drug Discovery

Cost and Delays

Therapeutic development is frequently plagued by failure, costing an estimated $28 billion per year, mostly due to efficacy (60%) and toxicity (30%). Absence of obvious cardiac toxicity (hERG binding) is a regulatory requirement for drug candidates. However, cardiotoxicity of marketed drugs still occurs, particularly within anti-cancer therapies, reducing quality of life and lifespan

Inaccurate Mechanical Environments

Mechanical load influences the cardiomyocyte phenotype and its drug response. 2D cell models lack mechanical stimuli and 3D models lack a physiological method of modelling circulatory pressure. Drugs are screened in these non-physiological systems, with poor predictions of cardiotoxicity or efficacy during in vivoanimal studies, where large biological and haemodynamic differences exist. Integrating physiologically relevant mechanical load at the preclinical stage is a critical gap in the drug development pipeline

The Solution: MyoLoop

Advancing Cardiac Research Using Realistic Mechanical Load

MyoLoop is a benchtop bioreactor recording functional output from human and animal cardiac muscle preparations such as Living Myocardial Slices (LMS), Engineered Heart Tissues (EHT) and cell-laden biomaterials

Interactive software uses customisable parameters to apply both healthy and diseased mechanical loading conditions, leveraged through real-time functional behaviour of cardiac tissue and a continuous feedback system

By introducing the effect of pressure of our valves and the circulation, cardiac tissue is exposed to a realistic model of the circulatory environment, maintaining the physiological cardiac response, and will accelerate the discovery of new therapeutic targets

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PRECISE MECHANICAL LOADING

Mimic diastole and systole across various animal models by applying programmed preload and afterload parameters

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DISEASE MODELLING

Vary mechanical parameters to match known disease conditions such those seen in hypertension, aortic stenosis and heart failure

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ACCELERATED DRUG DISCOVERY

Determine effeciency and safety profile of pharmaceutical drugs and biologics on cardiac function and arrhythmia

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LONG-TERM CULTURE

Undertake prolonged experiments to determine time-dependant reactions and monitoring of drug interaction

REDUCE ANIMAL USE

Leverage multicellular preparations to decrease costs associated with animal models and improve ethical research

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IMAGING

Integrate microscopy and fluorescence imaging techniques to record visible data from tissue samples

Boosting Cardiac Research Across Sectors

MyoLoop has been designed for pioneering research in academia, the pharmaceutical industry and contract research organisations (CROs) by offering a physiologically-relevant, medium-throughput device for cardiac research, superseding outmoded in vitro systems