Recipient: Hanover Medical School (MHH)
Funding: Go-Bio initial (01/10/2022 to 30/09/2023, EUR 120,000)

Project description:

Human liver cells are crucial for pharmaceutical drug development. They are obtained from tissue samples after surgery and biopsies. It is a limited and non-standardisable primary cell source for research, clinical, preclinical and industrial applications.

For livstem, a method has been developed with which human liver cells from surgical tissue samples can be gently converted into liver stem cells in vitro, i.e., outside a living organism. Unlike conventional human liver cells, which degenerate rapidly, they can be easily propagated, stored for long periods of time and matured into all three structural cell types of the liver.

The aim is to investigate whether research transfer and utilisation of human liver organoids grown in vitro is possible. After an initial market analysis, the evaluation of which business models are promising and how the identified cell products can be further developed will be performed. Necessary information and consulting services are to be obtained and collaborations are to be initiated. A freedom-to-operate analysis and patient consent extended to commercial use of the removed tissue are intended to ensure that third-party (protective) rights do not stand in the way of the business model and that feasibility studies are optimally prepared.