Human tissue, bioprinted to a design specification.
Detect drug toxicity earlier,
drive safer candidates to clinical trials.
Built into a microfluidic chip, recreating key conditions of the human body.
Modeling liver and kidney function, vital to drug metabolism and clearance.
Why does this matter? Let’s take a look at our current drug development system.
The problem
Drug development is failing, and failing late.
Animal models and static cell cultures, used in preclinical testing, often miss important data about how the human body metabolizes and clears a drug. As a consequence, a drug’s toxic effects can stay hidden until clinical trials, and only surface after most of the time and money for its development has been spent.
Of every 10 candidates that enter clinical trials, only 1 will reach patients.
- >90%
- of drug candidates that enter clinical trials fail1
- 10–15 yrs
- to develop a single drug1
- >$2B
- average cost per approved drug2
The technology
How we’re building better preclinical models.
Using 3D bioprinting, we print living human cells directly into a microfluidic chip from a precise digital design, forming the tissue and its flow channels in the same process. Our method stems from NASA-licensed technology, validated in spaceflight research on human tissues.
- 01
Design
Tissue architecture is defined in CAD, with a target and a tolerance for each dimension, giving us control over how the tissue behaves.
- 02
Print
Human cells are deposited, and the flow channels are formed within the tissue.
- 03
Perfuse
The tissue lives under continuous flow, recreating key conditions inside the body that give our micro-organs their function.
- 04
Measure
Drug response is read out as human-relevant toxicity and clearance data.
Why AccuCell
We’re bringing standardization, reproducibility and scalability to organ-on-a-chip.
Many organ-on-a-chip makers fill their chips with cells by hand, which creates uneven tissue and increases variation from chip to chip, making their results harder to reproduce. We bioprint the tissue from a computer-aided design instead, so every chip gets the same organ-like structure, and you can compare results from chip to chip with confidence in their consistency.
- 01
Standardization
When cells are seeded by hand, they settle wherever they land inside the chip. Instead, we print them into a digital design, using a predetermined tolerance for every dimension.
- 02
Reproducibility
Uneven tissue gives uneven results, and real differences between drugs get lost in the noise. Consistent tissue brings them to light.
- 03
Scalability
Hand-seeding depends on skilled hands, and it’s a slow process that happens one chip at a time. With bioprinting, a digital design automatically provides instructions to create the same chip again and again.
Our platform
Designed for multi-organ systems, starting with our liver–kidney model.
Using our bioprinting technology, we’re developing a dual-organ system designed to recreate key in vivo conditions for detecting drug toxicity.
Liver chamberThe compound is metabolized as it passes the tissue.
Kidney chamberMetabolites are cleared from the medium.
Liver
Where most drugs are metabolized. Our first device.
Kidney
Where drugs and their metabolites are cleared.
Liver + Kidney
Both organs in one perfused circuit, so metabolites made in the liver reach the kidney. Currently in development.
Impact
Improve the pipeline. Improve patient health.
Earlier go/no-go
Stop investing in the wrong candidates before they advance to clinical trials.
Candidates you can trust
Human-relevant results, from tissue built to accurately represent human responses.
Less animal testing
Moving toward a world with less animal testing and better in vitro models.
Why now
US policy is moving toward human-relevant methods.
The FDA Modernization Act 2.0 ended the federal mandate to test drugs in animals before human trials.
The FDA published a roadmap to reduce animal testing in preclinical safety studies, naming organ-on-a-chip among the methods to adopt.
The FDA updated its regulations so animal tests are no longer presented as the only source of safety data, and published cases where non-animal methods were accepted.
Credentials
Traction and early recognition.
NASA-licensedTechnology licensed from the NASA Technology Transfer Program.
1st placeStartup Texas.
NSF Regional I‑CorpsCustomer discovery program graduate.
UTRGVIncubated at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center.Mission
Human-relevant testing for safer drugs, faster approvals, and lower costs in drug development, helping pharmaceutical companies bring their life-saving treatments to every patient who needs them.
Team
The people building it.
-
Ethan Atlan
Founder & CEO
Founded AccuCell at 19. Licensed NASA technology and secured $60,000+ in non-dilutive funding through pitch competition wins. NSF I‑Corps graduate.
-
Dr. Edward Kelly
Advisor | Scientific,
NAMs Platform DevelopmentProfessor at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy and Director of its Pharmaceutical Bioengineering Program. Principal investigator at the NCATS-funded Translational Center for Kidney Microphysiological Systems.
-
Jane Lea Hicks
Advisor | Commercialization
More than 35 years in life-science company formation, business development and technology transfer, including scaling LifeCell Corporation to $3B. Former NASA Acceleration Director at the Houston Technology Center.
-
Dr. Narciso Acuña
Advisor | Research & Innovation
More than 35 years leading research, innovation and technology development. Director of Research and Development at Anáhuac Mayab University, after 14 years as its Academic Vice Chancellor.
Contact
Let's talk.
Whether you’re a drug developer running toxicity studies, a researcher investigating organ-on-a-chip models, or an investor who wants to learn more about our work, reach out! I read every message.
- ethan@accucell.bio
- Brownsville, Texas