Bencherif's Research Selected for Funding by Burroughs Wellcome Fund
ChE Assistant Professor Sidi A. Bencherif’s research program recently received funding from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The project, titled “Cryogel-supported liver-on-a-chip for ex-vivo hepatotoxicity and anticancer drug screening” is focused on developing biomimetic cryogel-integrated biochips intended to accurately model in 3-D the structure and function of hepatic microtissues in both healthy and diseased states. The ultimate objective is to reconstruct more reliable miniature tumoral and healthy liver tissues for drug discovery and testing safety of new therapeutics, reducing the need for often unreliable animal models. It is a multidisciplinary research collaborative project between Northeastern University and the University of Technology of Compiègne (Sorbonne University), France.
The objective of this emerging project between the French and American teams is to develop in vitro models for drug testing and toxicity that will not only drive costs down but will more accurately recapitulate human biochemistry and hence recapitulate human reactions to the drugs tested. “This project is intended to take our research to the next level and to foster a collaborative research relationship in the broad areas of liver tissue engineering and drug screening. The basis of the current research is to bring to light alternative and more realistic platforms that surpass the ones currently used in the field of drug screening,” Prof Bencherif remarks.
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is an independent private foundation dedicated to advancing the biomedical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities.