Registration Details
Models of significant skeletal muscle injury are complex and challenging to develop but are critical for understanding regenerative processes and testing novel therapeutics. In vivo models involve surgery to induce injury that both present significant welfare concerns and have limited translational value. Existing in vitro and ex vivo systems also do not fully recapitulate human muscle structure or injury pathophysiology.
Andrew Capel and Mark Lewis from the Myomaker Bio team will present the outcomes from the STRATIS CRACK IT Challenge, where they developed an in vitro vascularised and innervated skeletal muscle tissue model of traumatic injury. In addition, they will share their journey from university spin-out to contract research organisation, and highlight opportunities for collaboration, use and/or validation of their tissue models to replace the use of animals.
This webinar will be of interest to scientists from industry and academia working in skeletal muscle biology and injury who are developing, using or supporting the further validation of human relevant, non-animal models. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session with the speakers.
About the Challenge
Delivered in collaboration with Dstl, the STRATIS CRACK IT Challenge aimed to produce a human-relevant and high-throughput in vitro platform that recapitulates the complex structure of skeletal muscle and the pathology of significant injury to it. We awarded Professor Mark Lewis’s team at Loughborough University £800k to develop 3D assays to replace animal use for functional screening of pro-regenerative therapeutics. The Challenge was co-funded by Dstl and EPSRC.