Cryopreservation of complex models for cell-based analysis

The project shall test the feasibility of delivering complex cell culture models as frozen products, assembled in one central facility. These complex cell models are required by industry to answer important questions about candidate drugs during preclinical testing, and also have use in testing of other materials with potential health benefit, such as functional foods or traditional medicines. The complex models shall contain human cells, to enhance their analytical value. They shall be assembled into architectures resembling their tissues of origin: the project example shall be lung cells placed so as to reproduce structures lining the tissue’s airways. The freezing process shall be applied to cells pre-assembled in these structures and not, as conventionally, to cells frozen in bulk. Study success shall make the cell models available to a new commercial audience, and allow discovers to add value to candidate therapeutics before licensing-on to pharmaceutical players.