Prof. José María Pérez-Pomares and Dr. Juan Antonio Guadix Domínguez (Málaga team)

BioRobot-MiniHeart; C. nº. 10107095

4.000.000 € (975.000 € University of Málaga)

2022-2027

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. Although researchers have been committed to finding cures and treatments for heart disease, to date the number of identified drugs for successful treatment has been extremely disappointing, despite increased expenditure in recent years. The major bottleneck is the lack of proper human heart models that enable the study of human heart disease and consequent development of new cardiovascular drugs.

The main objective of this grant, funding an European consortium of biologists, bioengineers and experts in nanotechnology, is the development and the production of a multicellular human mini-heart (i.e. an Engineered Living Material —ELM— construct built by multiple cardiovascular cell types) allowing for the in vitro measurement of pumping function (pressure and volume output). This ELM will enable for the development of human-based cardiac disease models that are crucial for the urgently needed drug discovery and development.

Knowledge on the molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling cardiac progenitor differentiation, maturation and assembly into a functional tissue is key to the success of this proposal. The DeCA group has performed research on these topics for more than 25 years. Moreover, the UMA partner has pioneered the study of early coronary formation, and therefore has a unique expertise on normal cardiac wall vascularization along embryogenesis. All this know-how on the processes that govern cardiac tissue formation is of relevance to BioRobot-MiniHeart, as it will analyze the structural features of cardiac ELMs as related with their specific cell composition and specific build-up, therefore determining changes to be performed in next-generation constructs.

This technology has the potential to replace animals as animal models, and its successful implementation is expected to have a significant impact on animal-free research and by doing so also on the society.

European Union. European Innovation Council (EIC-Pathfinder Challenges)