Artificial axons as a myelination assay for drug screening in neurological diseases
Year
2019
Project team
Krystyn Van Vliet & Nicholas Fang with Anna Jagielska, Kavin Kowarski, Daniela Espinosa-Hoyos, Huifeng Du and Seok Kim
Challenging
to find cures for neurological disease
Lack of platforms
that credibly represent neural tissue
More predictive
In-vitro drug development
Better representation of neural tissue
Finding cures for neurological diseases is challenging. Most drug candidates fail in clinical trials, in part due to the lack of adequate in vitro drug screening platforms that credibly represent the neural tissue environment. This team is developing artificial axons, a novel drug-screening platform that mimics biological and mechanical properties of neuronal axons. By providing a better representation of neural tissue, this platform will allow for more predictive in vitro drug development, accelerating finding cures for neurological diseases
3 Questions: Anna Jagielska on printing artificial axons
Anna discussed with us how 3D-printed models of neuronal axons could accelerate development of new therapies to treat neurodegenerative disorders.