A transition away from 2D cell
cultures and animal models to...
more biologically-relevant
3D cell models and human systems
The REVOLUTIONARY PROMISE
of 3D BIOLOGY
3D biology is an emerging field revolutionizing the way scientists screen new drugs and understand disease
3D cell models like organoids have a unique makeup that offer a step-change in predicting human responses to novel treatments. Their increased physiological relevance leads to more accurate indications of a therapeutic’s efficacy in the pre-clinical phase. This allows for a weeding out of toxic, ineffective compounds to make space for those with healing power earlier in the drug discovery process.
12-18 YEARS + $1.3B
1 DRUG
What is the Drug Discovery Paradigm?
90 percent of drug candidates fail during the three phases of clinical trials
This alarming failure rate can be traced in part to reliance on 2D cell cultures or animal models that don’t closely mimic complex human biology. The results are inaccurate predictions of a drug’s potential and extended drug development timelines.
1 DRUG
Limitations of conventional cell models
Translatability and scale
Though 2D cell models are easily scaled, they have low relative translatability – meaning they are not reliable indicators of a drug’s efficacy in humans.
And while animal models have played a critical role in drug development studies, they are not always predictive of human response to drugs. The main reason for this discrepancy is a lack of translatability because animals and humans metabolize drugs differently. Animal models are also difficult to humanely and cost-effectively scale.
FDA Modernization Act 2.0
Bipartisan bill signed into law allowing alternatives to animal testing for drug and biological product applications.
This historic move toward animal-free testing refutes the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act (FFDCA) of 1938 mandating that all new drugs be tested in animals to protect patients from unknown toxicity.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can now consider alternatives fordrug testing methods, like those rooted in 3D biology which offer higher predictive power and could limit the need for up to 156 million animals used in clinical testing today.
How scientists integrate organoids into their research
Organoids are 3D cultures derived from stem cells or organ progenitor cells that recapitulate the structure and cellular complexity of human organs like the brain, heart, lung, intestine, and more. They naturally self-organize into clusters and differentiate into cell types that represent in vivo tissue and some organ function. This greater complexity and sophistication allow researchers to facilitate next-gen drug discovery and better predict success in the clinic.
Organoids in action
Case studies and expert insight
Because they so closely resemble their internal organ counterparts, organoids have proven to be an accurate model for studying human disease, screening drugs, and testing potential therapeutics.
They’re also an especially useful tool for precision medicine. For example, patient derived organoids can be generated from individuals with specific ailments and used to better understand disease, develop drugs, and customize personalized therapies.
Researcher pain points
The challenges with organoids
More complex protocols are required to overcome barriers to 3D biology adoption
Organoids may offer greater predictability and more biologically-relevant data than 2D cell models, but their wider adoption remains limited. They can be difficult to grow in-house without the right protocols, technology, or know-how, and access to reliable off-the-shelf options are minimal.
Associated technical hurdles and assay complexity lead to higher costs, lower throughput, and reproducibility hurdles.
Realizing a future of advanced drug discovery will require radical innovation
To get there we must:
Increase access to organoids
pioneering a future where researchers are empowered to personalize therapies, improving global health
Commercialize fully-integrated screening solutions
bringing end-to-end workflows together connecting cell line development with 3D biology
Exploit automation technologies
to scale complex 3D biology research in a high throughput screening environment
Maximize use of artificial intelligence
to guide data-driven analysis and decision-making across the entire drug discovery process
Organoid screening workflow
Quickly adopt innovative, 3D biological methods and technologies for drug discovery
The Organoid Innovation Center
combines cutting-edge technologies with novel research methods to address key challenges of scaling complex biology assays. The collaborative space brings customers and researchers into the lab to test automated workflows for organoid culturing and screening, with guidance from in-house scientists.
Automated high-throughput screening solution
An end-to-end solution standardizes the organoid development process with cell culture, treatment, and incubation, through to imaging, analysis, and data processing, delivering consistent, unbiased, and biologically-relevant results at scale.
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Drug Discovery & Development
The drug discovery landscape is shifting, with more scientists centering cell line development, disease models, and high-throughput screening methods around physiologically- relevant 3D cell models. The reason for this is clear: Using cellular model systems in research that closely mimic patient disease states or human organs can bring life-saving therapeutics to market – faster.
View our research
How 3D cell models will shape the future of drug discovery
In this roundtable discussion, leading experts from the industry discuss the promise of 3D biology and organoids for advancing drug discovery. They examine how to overcome challenges involved in 3D biology and what the future of organoid research will look like.
Listen to the experts
3D Cell Models
3D cell cultures offer the advantage of closely recapitulating aspects of human tissues including the architecture, cell organization, cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, and more physiologically-relevant diffusion characteristics. Utilization of 3D cellular assays adds value to research and screening campaigns, spanning the translational gap between 2D cell cultures and whole-animal models.
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applications & research
the paradigm shift in
Toxicology: Using cell-based approaches for deeper toxicity assessment insights
Toxicity assessment plays a critical role in the development of new drugs, as many potential treatments are found to be toxic in early clinical trials. In fact, over one-third of developing drugs fail due to toxicity, making early detection essential to bringing safe and effective treatments to market. Shifting to cell-based testing allows for multiple chemicals to be tested rapidly and better represents human biology.
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Making the move from 2D to 3D
The advantages of 3D cell culture and imaging are fairly well understood, particularly in drug discovery and development, but 2D culture and imaging are still common in labs – why is this?
Join the conversation if you are interested in making the move from 2D to 3D cell culture: an interview with Molecular Devices’ Jayne Hesley and Jeff McMillan.
Read the article
Toxicology: Using cell-based approaches for deeper toxicity assessment insights
Toxicity assessment plays a critical role in the development of new drugs, as many potential treatments are found to be toxic in early clinical trials. In fact, over one-third of developing drugs fail due to toxicity, making early detection essential to bringing safe and effective treatments to market. Shifting to cell-based testing allows for multiple chemicals to be tested rapidly and better represents human biology.
Learn more
Making the move from 2D to 3D
The advantages of 3D cell culture and imaging are fairly well understood, particularly in drug discovery and development, but 2D culture and imaging are still common in labs – why is this?
Join the conversation if you are interested in making the move from 2D to 3D cell culture: an interview with Molecular Devices’ Jayne Hesley and Jeff McMillan.
Read the article
Toxicology: Using cell-based approaches for deeper toxicity assessment insights
To start, our experts will discuss the unique needs of your application and guide you toward the right systems—from high-content imagers that capture complexities within 3D cell models to AI-based analysis tools to make fast, accurate predictions from robust data sets.
Let's connect
Q&A: What the transition away from animal testing could mean for drug discovery.
In September, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which would lift an 84-year-old federal mandate for animal testing for toxicity studies. While the bill doesn’t ban animal testing outright, it would allow drug developers to use alternatives when feasible.
Read the article
Brain organoids
Brain organoids are 3D tissue models representing one or more regions of the brain. They can overcome the shortcomings of conventional post-mortem and animal brain models to produce clinically relevant results.
Cerebral organoids have great potential for understanding brain development and neuronal diseases. They can also be used for investigating genetic disorders and the effects of compounds.
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Organoids
Organoids are three-dimensional (3D) multi-cellular microtissues that are designed to closely mimic the complex structure and functionality of human organs. Organoids typically consist of a co-culture of cells which demonstrate a high order of self-assembly to allow for an even better representation of complex in vivo cell responses and interactions, as compared to traditional 2D cell cultures.
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Lung Organoids
Lung organoid cultures are 3D microtissue models recapitulating the morphological and functional characteristics of the airway, such as mucus secretion, ciliary beating, and regeneration. This biological relevance enables the study of repair/regeneration mechanisms in lung injury and phenotypic changes in pulmonary diseases. Lung organoids also can be used for toxicity assessment or drug testing.
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Intestinal Organoids
Intestinal organoids are 3D tissue models that recapitulate structures in the intestinal lumen and on the surrounding intestinal epithelium.
The cell composition and arrangement of the epithelium make intestinal organoids useful for studying intestinal cell biology, regeneration, differentiation, as wells as diseases phenotypes including effects of specific mutations, microbiome, or inflammation process.
Learn more
Cardiac Organoids
We recently partnered with HeartBeat.bio to automate and scale the production of cardioids — 3D cell models of the heart that can more accurately recapitulate human biology.
Find out how cardioids can improve research accuracy and lead to greater returns on drug discovery investment in this Labiotech.eu article, “How cardioids can usher in the next generation of drug discovery.”
Read article
Patient-derived Organoids
Patient-derived tumor organoids or tumoroids are cultures of tumor cells that can be generated from individual patients. Tumoroids are highly valuable tools for cancer research, drug development, and personalized medicine.
Early detection and treatment are crucial in the survival rate of breast cancer patients. This necessitates the use of clinically relevant tumor models to understand the mechanism, analyze tumor biomarkers, and screen anticancer drugs.
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Using 3D cancer cell models to push forward personalized medicine: an interview with Angeline Lim, PhD, of Molecular Devices
Editor-in-Chief of BioTechniques, Francesca Lake, speaks to Angeline Lim of Molecular Devices about using 3D cancer cell models to inform the future of precision medicine.
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Talking Techniques | Organoids: advancing drug discovery and cancer research [Podcast]
As the transition from 2D to 3D cell cultures, or organoids, as the gold standard for modeling basic biology and disease continues, these models are being utilized in ever more intricate and impactful ways.
Listen to podcast
A case study for assay-ready patient-derived organoids and high-throughput 3D imaging to advance drug discovery
This demonstrates the proof of principle that organoids can be used for screening “libraries” of potential therapeutics. Compounds that have the desired effect on patient organoids are likely to be effective in treating the patients themselves.
View case study
Talking Techniques | Organoids: advancing drug discovery and cancer research [Podcast]
Growing organoids without proper technology and expertise presents significant challenges that delay experiments and increase costs. From research-ready organoids to end-to-end workflow solutions, we turn your 3D biology roadblocks into opportunities for advanced scientific discovery.
Let's connect
Blog post: 3D organoids and automation of complex cell assays [+Podcast]
As we enter the era of sophisticated drug discovery with gene therapy and personalized medicine, we need to be prepared to study complex diseases, assess the therapeutic effect of drugs and identify adverse effects that can pose risks to patient health.
Listen to podcast
How automated organoid cell cultures are developed, imaged, and analyzed
Scientists at Molecular Devices discuss advances in cell technologies and demonstrate an integrated workflow that allows automated processes of cell culture and imaging to monitor the development and characterize the complex responses in 3D organoids.
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Improving drug development: Molecular Devices and Cellesce aim to advance the use of organoids
“Being able to have and provide our customers with either off-the-shelf or customized or manufactured organoids at scale with our workflow and solutions really brings us a complete turnkey solution,” states Susan Murphy, Molecular Devices President.
Join the conversation with Instrument Business Outlook.
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Overcome the challenges of high-content cell analysis through AI/machine learning
As HCA has matured and gained wider adoption as a quantitative tool for biomedical research, the application space continues to grow and is no longer limited to a finite list of well-defined assays performed in standard biological models. To account for this added complexity, a large focus has been placed on improving the flexibility and performance of analysis methods through AI or machine learning.
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Lab automation 101: Inside access from our subject matter expert
Lab automation integrates new technologies to improve experimental capacity and efficiency. Concept-wise, it sounds great, but how does it translate to real life?
We sat down with Constantin Radu, global proposals manager at Molecular Devices, who opened our eyes to the endless opportunities of lab automation with examples from our recent collaborations.
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Lab automation for high-throughput, high-content screening (HCS)
Our automated, high-content screening (HCS) workcell provides an end-to-end solution that helps standardize live 2D/3D cellular development process with cell culture, treatment, and incubation, through to imaging, analysis, and data processing, delivering consistent, unbiased, and biologically-relevant results at scale.
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Project Profile: Organoid Innovation Center
Lab Manager speaks to Dan O’Connor, vice president, drug discovery, Molecular Devices, about the company’s Organoid Innovation Center.
The idea for the Organoid Innovation Center was borne in part from a unique collaboration of this kind with Cincinnati Children’s Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Medicine (CuSTOM).
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NEXT-GEN DRUG DISCOVERY
Toxicology: Using cell-based approaches for deeper toxicity assessment insights
To start, our experts will discuss the unique needs of your application and guide you toward the right systems—from high-content imagers that capture complexities within 3D cell models to AI-based analysis tools to make fast, accurate predictions from robust data sets.
Let's connect
Advanced technology for automated 3D biology workflows
SLAS Europe 2022, we had the opportunity to deliver a series of educational presentations, together with our partners — from new advancements in engineering next-generation organoids to developing an automated lab workflow for 3D biology encompassing culturing, monitoring and high-content imaging.
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Engineering Next-gen Organoids with Automated Lab Workflows
SLAS2022, the Society for Lab Automation and Screening conference, we were excited to share new methods and protocols to automate your complex biology workflows. Our poster presentations run the gamut of valuable topics — from new advancements in engineering next-generation organoids to developing an automated lab workflow for 3D cell culture, monitoring, and high-content imaging.
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Shaping the Future of Organoid Research
To learn more about the Organoid Innovtation Center and its origins, Technology Networks spoke with Molecular Devices’ president, Susan Murphy. In this interview, Susan also discusses some of the key technologies housed at the Center and highlights the advantages of automating organoid culturing and screening workflows.
Read article
Organoid Innovation Center
The center demonstrate a fully-integrated solution that addresses the challenges associated with every step in the sample prep-to-report pipeline for assays performed on complex 3D biological models. An end-to-end solution standardizes the organoid development process with cell culture, treatment, and incubation, through to imaging, analysis, and data processing, delivering consistent, unbiased, and biologically-relevant results at scale.
Visit the OIC
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Shaping the Future of Organoid Research
To learn more about the Organoid Innovtation Center and its origins, Technology Networks spoke with Molecular Devices’ president, Susan Murphy. In this interview, Susan also discusses some of the key technologies housed at the Center and highlights the advantages of automating organoid culturing and screening workflows.
Read article
Organoid Innovation Center
The center demonstrate a fully-integrated solution that addresses the challenges associated with every step in the sample prep-to-report pipeline for assays performed on complex 3D biological models. An end-to-end solution standardizes the organoid development process with cell culture, treatment, and incubation, through to imaging, analysis, and data processing, delivering consistent, unbiased, and biologically-relevant results at scale.
Visit the OIC
Expert Perspectives on 3D Biology
We believe in the revolutionary promise of 3D biology, where organoids accurately predict real-world patient responses to novel treatments, offering less animal testing, safer clinical trials, and ultimately, radically improved human health.
In this piece, we've curated insights from our in-house experts on the role 3D biology plays in making next-gen drug discovery a reality.
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EXPERT PERSPECTIVES
on 3D BIOLOGY
Curated news pieces featuring Molecular Devices leaders on the revolutionary promise organoids offernext-gen drug discovery
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