Submitted Abstract
The Eco-Systems Biology research group at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine has recently developed a novel microfluidics-based human-microbial co-culture system called HuMiX, which represents a represetative model for the gastrointestinal interface and which allows the systematic investigation of molecular interactions between human and microbial cells in vitro. Possible applications of the technology are far-reaching as human-microbe interactions are emerging as key factors in human health and disease as well as in nutrition and pharmacokinetics.The HuMiX2.0 PoC project is focussed on maturing the HuMiX platform technology which has been developed as part of a FNR CORE Programme Grant, FNR Accompany Measures grant as well as FNR INTER Mobility Grant. The project is the result of 3.5 years research partnership between the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine at the University of Luxembourg and the Center for Applied Nanobioscience and Medicine at the University of Arizona. The overall aim of the PoC project is to transform the current technology into a high throughput and optimized platform with addition of key functionalities in line with the current market needs. The goal is to create a dedicated HuMiX service platform in Luxembourg where we have the capability to reliably handle low volume service requests from the industry for applications targeting drug screening, discovery and repositioning.