Towards the automation of organoid-based in vitro pharmacological assays

Andrea Bieder

Cell-based in vitro pharmacological assays are routinely used to identify new drug candidates and test drug safety. However, the standard models have limits regarding their physiological relevance. One powerful new tool is the use of organoids – stem-cell derived self-organizing cell assemblies, that mimic closely the physiology of organs. We are working on the standardization of such organoids to enable their use in high-throughput compound screening. We are taking advantage of 3D printing, tissue engineering and automated liquid handling platforms. An important aspect of automatized assays is their validation and their comparison to standard approaches. In the future, the obtained data may inform in silico methods such as PBPK models.