Friday, 27 May 2011 17:53

Communicating Biological Barriers Featured

With "InLiveTox", a project supported by the European Union, scientists for the first time interconnect three biological barriers in one sigle "in vitro model". With that they want to simulate nature related conditions like in human body.

The intestine, blood vessels and liver belong to the biological barriers of human body:  they seal it off from pathogens and harmful particles. Otherwise, they serve as an "entry gate" for useful substances like pharmaceuticals. To investigate the transport processes in these biological barriers, scientists from different European countries now are developing in the EU- funded project "InLiveTox" a "quasi-vivo" test system in which three biological barriers (the liver, intestine and blood vessels) are connected serially in an integrated "in vitro" model that simulate almost natural related conditions like in human body.

The head of the Department of the Helmholtz institute of Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS, Germany),  Claus-Michael Lehr, professor of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology of the Saar University (Germany), is involved in the three million Euro project. The head of the research group is also listed in our InVitroJobs working group list. The project runs for three years.

With the beginning of the third project year the project partners from different European countries and the United States are working together to combine their results of their research now.

With the "quasi vivo" models, the number of of animal experiments should be reduced in future.

For more information:

Weitere Informationen:
Professor Dr. Claus-Michael Lehr
Tel.: +49 (0)681 302-3039
E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: http://idw-online.de/