Presentations will focus on long-term, lipid-loading models and the role of impaired hepatic transporter function in drug-induced liver injury
BioIVT, a leading provider of research models and services for drug and diagnostic development, today announced that it will be highlighting novel hepatotoxicity models at the 2021 Virtual Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, which will be held online from March 12-26.
“We appreciate having this opportunity to meet with our colleagues in the research community, albeit virtually, to discuss some of the advances we have made with novel tox models,” said Dr. Chris Black, BioIVT Senior Vice President ADME-Tox. “The pandemic made R&D especially difficult during the past year and certainly highlighted the critical importance of drug discovery. We’re proud of the many ways in which the scientists in our ADME Tox and Transporter Research Services groups have risen to the challenge and worked collaboratively with our clients to help keep their programs on track.”
BioIVT Senior Scientist Dr. Karissa Cottier will describe her recent research in her poster presentation entitled “Lipid Loading in Micropatterned Primary Hepatocyte and Kupffer Cell Co-culture: Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) Modeling for Drug Toxicity Screening,” from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on March 17.
Dr. Cottier will demonstrate how BioIVT’s HEPATOPAC® and HEPATOMUNE®cultures can serve as an easy-to-use, long-term system to examine interplay between free-fatty acids, high sugars, and immune cell activation on hepatic steatosis and hepatotoxicity. These attributes may contribute to investigating NAFLD-related drug toxicity and for screening therapeutic modalities.
BioIVT’s HEPATOPAC model is an in vitro bioengineered co-culture of primary hepatocytes and fibroblasts, which is used for liver-based safety, metabolism, and efficacy evaluations of small molecule drug candidates. Its HEPATOMUNE cultures are composed of hepatocytes, stromal cells and Kupffer cells in a tri-culture and mimic the physiological microenvironment of the liver. Together they produce a long-term, stable, in vitro model for evaluating immune-related and inflammation-mediated liver injury.
On March 18, BioIVT will sponsor a presentation on drug-induced liver injury (DILI) by Dr. James J. Beaudoin, Scientist I at DILIsym Services Inc. Dr. Beaudoin will discuss “In Vitro and Modeling Approaches to Investigate Mechanisms of DILI” from 9-10 a.m. ET.
DILI is a major safety concern in drug development, and it can be difficult to predict when it will occur. Dr. Beaudoin will describe how impaired hepatic transporter function can contribute to DILI and reveal how in vitro and in silico modeling approaches can provide important insights into the mechanisms involved, potentially improving predictions and management of DILI risk.
Dr. Beaudoin will focus on the roles played by organic solute transporter α/β and multidrug resistance-associated protein 2. He will also describe how to optimally use cell culture-based experiments (e.g., BioIVT’s C-DILI™ Assay), the isolated perfused liver, and in silicomodels of DILI.
Experts from BioIVT’s ADME-Tox team will be available in booth #1964 to answer questions about the company’s research services and extensive portfolio of products that model hepatotoxicity.
Additional information about this conference is available at https://www.toxicology.org/events/am/AM2021/index.asp.
About BioIVT
BioIVT is a leading global provider of research models and value-added research services for drug discovery and development. We specialize in control and disease-state biospecimens including human and animal tissues, cell products, blood and other biofluids. Our unmatched portfolio of clinical specimens directly supports precision medicine research and the effort to improve patient outcomes by coupling comprehensive clinical data with donor samples. And as the premier supplier of hepatic products, including hepatocytes and subcellular fractions, BioIVT enables scientists to better understand the pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism of newly discovered compounds and their effects on disease processes. By combining our technical expertise, exceptional customer service, and unparalleled access to biological specimens, BioIVT serves the research community as a trusted partner in elevating science. For more information, please visit www.bioivt.com or follow the company on Twitter @BioIVT.