ORGANTRANS

Controlled Organoids transplantation as enabler for regenerative medicine translation

End-stage liver failure is a major healthcare challenge. Liver diseases account for approximately 2 million deaths per year worldwide. Liver transplantation is the most effective way to re-establish a liver with normal functions for various diseases including acute liver failure or liver malignancies. Currently, less than 10% of global transplantation needs are met and the gap between patients on transplant waiting lists and available donor organs is steadily increasing.

ORGANTRANS proposes a disruptive alternative to donor organs for patients with chronic or end-stage liver diseases who have still to isolate autologous liver stem cells. Driven by a need of leading European transplant centers, ORGANTRANS is tackling current obstacles for liver regenerative medicine by combining advanced know-how in cell biology, biomaterials, bioengineering, automation, standardization and clinical translation.

ORGANTRANS is developing a liver tissue printing platform that will be shortly deployed under the “compassionate use exemption” by three leading European transplant centers belonging to the consortium or the External Advisory Board. ORGANTRANS will not only deliver an ATMP, but also platform technologies that can be scaled to other organ systems, as organoid technology is one of the largest parts of regenerative medicine. The project covers the entire value chain (from cell source, tissue engineering, bioprinting, post-processing to testing) allowing for early adoption of its results (product & process) in clinical practice. The platform will first be scaled to Europe and then to the rest of the world.

AMIRES was involved in the project’s preparatory phase and in the negotiations. Within the project it is responsible for administrative and financial project management and for dissemination of results.

• Partners:
  • CSEM CENTRE SUISSE D’ELECTRONIQUE ET DE MICROTECHNIQUE SA – RECHERCHE ET DEVELOPPEMENT, Switzerland
  • UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT, Netherlands
  • DWI LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUR INTERAKTIVE MATERIALIEN EV, Germany
  • REGENHU SA, Switzerland
  • VIB VZW, Belgium
  • KING’S COLLEGE LONDON, United Kingdom
  • KUGELMEIERS AG, Switzerland
  • AMIRES S.R.O., Czech Republic

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 874586, project ORGANTRANS.