The collaboration aims to evaluate how functional spatial readouts can be applied in advanced three-dimensional brain models to support more human-relevant brain studies of biology and drug response. The work is currently at an early feasibility stage and will focus on selected assay concepts in BrainZell’s organoid models.

The initial work will be performed as a feasibility project. Both companies see potential for future applications in CNS research, drug discovery and translational studies, depending on the outcome of the evaluation.

“We are pleased to start this collaboration with BrainZell and explore how our technology can be applied in human brain organoid models. Organoids offer an exciting opportunity to study biology in a more human-relevant system, and functional spatial readouts may help researchers gain deeper insight into how pathways respond to disease and treatment,” says Jenny Sundqvist, CEO of Navinci.

“At BrainZell, we are working at the forefront of 3D drug discovery and continuously exploring technologies that can make organoid studies more informative. Assessing protein localization, protein interactions, target engagement and pathway activity within an intact 3D tissue architecture could provide an important additional layer of insight for identifying and validating drug targets, understanding disease biology and evaluating treatment response. This feasibility project will allow us to assess that potential directly in our human brain organoid models,” says Robin Pronk, CSO at BrainZell.