SME and academic partnership develops model for respiratory infections

SME Newcells Biotech and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have developed an experimental model that replicates the impact of respiratory infections on the lungs and upper airways.

The partnership, which is supported by the Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON), has created an organoid SARS-Cov-2 infection model to assess how the virus impacts the body’s lungs and upper airways. It’s hoped that the model will be able to provide a more accurate and physiologically relevant picture of the impact of coronavirus and other upper respiratory infections compared to current in-vitro screening methods.

More so, the collaborators hope that the model can be used by the wider scientific community for compound screening, potentially creating more targeted treatments for Covid-19 and other respiratory infections.

Professor Giancarlo Biagini, iiCON workstream lead for humanised organoid development and head of the Department of Tropical Disease Biology at LSTM, co-developed the SARS-CoV-2-lung organoid infection model with colleagues at LSTM including Dr Grant Hughes.

Professor Biagini said: “We are delighted with the results. The SARS-CoV-2-lung organoid infection model that has been developed in partnership with Newcells Biotech paves the way for broader studies of viral airway infection using a system that can easily be replicated.  This will support and accelerate the development of treatments and responses to some of the most challenging respiratory infections, including Coronavirus.”

Professor Lyle Armstrong, chief scientific officer at Newcells Biotech said: “The infected model cells also secreted cytokines at levels corresponding to the behaviour of the airway epithelium in the body following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our protocol not only simplifies the manufacture of cellular models of the human upper airways, but it has a distinct advantage in that we have eliminated the need for primary samples that differ in genetic backgrounds. Our next step will be to expand on this model by including immune cell components.”

Professor Janet Hemingway, iiCON director, added: “iiCON worked closely with Newcells Biotech to support the development of this cutting-edge new model – which creates a replicable model that will support the development of new therapeutics for key respiratory infections.

“This study is a brilliant example of the co-innovation and collaboration that iiCON is working to embed to support the creation of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics that will help to tackle future pandemics, combat resistant infections, and ultimately, lessen the global burden of disease.”

More on the collaboration and its results can be found in the journal STEM CELLS.