Medicyte and PRIMACYT Receive Grant to Develop Human Liver Cells for Cell-based Therapies
Medicyte and PRIMACYT have received a 300k Euro grant from the BMBF to develop culturing methods of human hepatocytes for use in cell-based therapies.
Cell-based therapies and the development of transplantable bioartificial livers to treat severe liver diseases still fail due to the limited availability of appropriate cells in large numbers and clinical quality. These failures are often related to the complex and difficult culturing of liver cells.
Medicyte’s upcyte® technology enables the expansion of human primary liver cells to large amounts and with consistent quality. Upcyte® hepatocytes are functionally equivalent to human primary liver cells and therefore suitable for use in cell-based bioartificial liver systems. PRIMACYT’s main expertise lies in the serum-free, long-term culturing of primary human hepatocytes and the development of cell culture media. Both companies now combine their knowledge to develop modified liver cells in large amounts for use in cell-based therapies.
The three-year project is supported by a team from the University of Tübingen lead by Prof. Andreas Nüssler, a well-known liver cell expert. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is supporting the joint effort out of the grant program “KMU-innovativ”.
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