Hannover, DE / Brimingham, UK / March 20th, 2019 / Laser nanoFab GmbH has had a new proposal selected for funding by the EU through the FET (Future Emerging Technologies) Launchpad scheme in cooperation with Aston University, a partner in EU-funded MESO-BRAIN project.
The FET Launchpad scheme is available only to existing or recently ended FET projects to encourage development of innovative ideas emerging from a project to be accelerated through separate and dedicated, Launchpad funding.
One of the aims of MESO-BRAIN project is to develop unique biocompatible 3D platform with integrated electrodes that can be fabricated on a large scale and in reproducible manner. The development of such technological platform will be foundational for a new era of biological and medical research based on human neural networks. First prototype 3D scaffold platform concepts designed by Aston University have been already fabricated and tested in the frame of the MESO-BRAIN project.
The Launchpad “Scaffold-Needs” project will aim to make 3D scaffolds and 3D scaffold platforms with integrated electrodes commercially available via the young start-up German company Laser nanoFab GmbH, co-founded in December 2017 by a member of the MESO-BRAIN project Prof. Dr. Boris Chichkov. It is envisaged that the 3D scaffold platforms will enable scientific and medical researchers to use them for a variety of studies e.g. as 3D neuronal cell models for investigations of fundamental mechanisms of human neuronal activity; in tests of pharmacological and toxicological compounds, in modelling of neuronal diseases, etc. This Launchpad project provides a unique opportunity for the creation of a marketable product stemming from the work already performed and intended in MESO-BRAIN project.
Current market of 3D scaffolds and culture systems is limited by a basically single scaffold type (spounge) and no single company offers either laser produced 3D scaffolds or 3D scaffold platforms with integrated electrodes. Many research groups, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, suppliers of Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are interested in 3D scaffolds with integrated electrodes as a tool for 3D cell culture and in situ electrophysiological analysis.
3D scaffold platform for neuronal network development is currently produced by laser-based microfabrication method, 2-Photon Polymerisation (2PP). The application of the 2PP microfabrication technology for 3D structure fabrication offers unique possibilities in controlling structure resolution, design complexity, and reproducibility. Up to date, 2PP technique is the only method capable of manufacturing of consistently reproducible complex 3D scaffolds with a very high structure resolution. The developed technological process chain for 3D incorporation of microelectrodes allows the creation of a novel biotech product – 3D polymer scaffold platform with integrated electrodes for neuronal network development and characterisation. The functional reproducibility of such networks allows researchers and pharmaceuticals to test compounds/interventions that modulate network activity enabling, for the first time, in vitro human testing at the functional level. The commercially available scaffold platforms from Laser nanoFab will provide a high throughput tool for screening novel drugs and compounds that may impact upon the disease process and expedite the process of drug development. This will be of benefit to patients/clinicians and pharmaceutical companies as it will speed up the process of drug development for numerous diseases and disorders (such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders)
Thus, to the end of the SCAFFOLD-NEEDS project will identify the market potential and most effective research and technology areas where the 3D scaffolds and 3D scaffold platforms with integrated electrodes can be applied.
MESO-BRAIN partners Axol Bioscience, and Institute for Photonic Sciences, ICFO, Barcelona, were also successful in having their own FET Launchpad proposals selected for funding with COMMER-CELL and MAFIn respectively.
About Laser nanoFab GmbH
Laser nanoFab GmbH is a young spin-off of Leibniz University Hannover and Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. founded in December 2017. This company develops and distributes novel systems and services for nanotechnology and microtechnology. Specifically, the company is dedicated to the femtosecond laser-based production of nanoparticles and nanomaterials (e.g. the femtoBond® photoresist series) and the scalable production of nano- and microstructures using additive and subtractive laser processes. In the field of laser-assisted nanofabrication, Laser nanoFab GmbH possesses unique technologies that enable the production of complex3D micro- and nanostructures. Due to its origin in industry-related research, the innovative company has access to an extensive European and international network in the field of micro- and nanotechnology, in particular with biomedical applications.
Contact us:
Laser nanoFab GmbH, Hollerithallee 17, D-30419 Hannover, Germany, email:
About Aston University
Aston University is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK’s first College of Advanced Technology in 1956.[5] Aston University received its royal charter from Queen Elizabeth II on 22 April 1966.
In 2017, Aston received recognition Times Higher Education for the second best teaching quality in the UK.[6] For 2018, it was ranked in the top 55 universities in the UK by all major domestic and international league tables. Aston was ranked by QS as the 42nd best university in the world under 50 years old in 2015.
Aston pioneered the integrated placement year concept over 50 years ago,[7][8][9] with more than 70% of Aston students taking a placement year, the highest percentage in the UK
Contact:
Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK, Tel: +44 (0) 121 204 3000