IVTD investigates mechanisms of chronic and acute liver injury caused by either drugs, chemicals or by disease. To do so, IVTD builds on more than 30 years of experience to develop in vitro liver models for pharmaco-toxicological and liver disease modelling purposes.
IVTD’s in vitro liver research is based on the application of our patented human skin stem cell-derived hepatic cell model (hSKP-HPC or HepaSTARs) in a variety of research contexts. Research projects are led by Tamara Vanhaecke, Robim Rodrigues and Joery De Kock.
Current projects
- Hepatotoxicity screening and drug-induced liver injury (DILI) prediction
- In vitro non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) modelling and drug target discovery
- Interdisciplinary development of 3D/dynamic culture systems towards lab-on-chip applications.
- Technological advancements for the development of stem cell-based models for hepatotoxicity testing (2019)
- Production of induced hepatocyte-like cells (iHeps) by reprogramming with super-evolved transcription factors.
Expertise
IVTD’s expertise also extends to commonly employed and commercially available hepatic cell models including:
- primary human and rat hepatocytes
- HepG2
- HepaRGTM
- iPSC-Heps