Karolinska Institutet purchases PreciseInhale plus in vitro cell culturing module XposeALI for groundbreaking nanoparticle research
One of the world’s most innovative research bodies in the field of environmental nanoparticles has purchased ISAB’s dry powder aerosolizing system PreciseInhale, and its in vitro cell culturing module XposeALI. “It is the combination of aerosol capability and the culturing of primary cells in an Air Liquid Interface (ALI) that makes this system so unique and so precise,” says Karolinska Institutet Associate Professor Lena Palmberg.
Read the PDF here: ISAB PRESS RELEASE Karolinska Institutet buy PreciseInhale and XposeALI
The Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM) at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, has been using XposeALI for over a year, including as part of the Europe-wide NANoREG project into assessing the environmental and toxicological risks of Manufactured Nano Materials (MNMs) – research headed by Dr Hanna Karlsson, Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine. “For me the use of ALI-exposures is an important way forward in order to improve in vitro systems for inhalation studies,” says Dr Karlsson.
ISAB’s combination of aerosol capability, through PreciseInhale, and 3D-models with primary bronchial epithelial cells cultured in ALI, through XposeALI, is unique. “Culturing the 3D-models in ALI mimics the uptake of substances in the lung in vivo more exactly than conventional cell culturing,” says Prof Palmberg.
ISAB CEO Fredrik Sjövall: “We’re delighted with the purchase. For us this is an important validation of XposeALI’s capabilities. Our nearest competitors in cell exposures have limitations that we overcome, by combining ALI with dry powder aerosolization. Our competitors are limited when it comes to dry powders, they primarily use nebulized droplets instead – so it’s unlikely they could achieve the deposition quality XposeALI delivers. They essentially generate static PK data, not the dynamic data, including Cmax and Tmax curves, which our technology enables.”
Milligrams not grams: Cost benefits
PreciseInhale’s ability to run tests using just milligrams, not grams, of costly test substance is likely to have been an important factor in the purchase too. Scarcity of test material and the need for respirable aerosol is an acute problem for environmental researchers studying toxic airborne particles. Because XposeALI works as a module of PreciseInhale it offers significant cost savings, typically using between 50 – 100 mg of test substance for a full PK study. Lena Palmberg: “Inhalation Sciences’ in vitro cell exposure system is cost-effective and highly accurate.”
3R compliance
Replacing, refining and reducing the number of animals in research is an increasingly important factor in gaining research funding. A sophisticated in vitro system such as XposeALI enables 3R work of a high quality, a stated priority for the Karolinska Institutet team.