SCHLIEREN, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- InSphero Inc., the pioneer of 3D cell-based assay technology, today announced that the company is making their proprietary, patented 96- and 384-microwell plates available to researchers, enabling them to access the same plate technology used in the company’s flagship, assay-ready 3D InSight™ Human Liver Microtissues. The plates, engineered specifically for 3D cultures of spheroids and organoids, are available via InSphero’s online R&D Solutions Store.

Akura™ plates simplify development and handling of spheroids and organoids and facilitate integration of 3D models into cell-based assay workflows providing researchers important advantages for their workflows:

• The plates have the unique SureXchange™ feature to prevent unintended spheroid and organoid aspiration during near-complete medium exchange required in many applications, a key enabler for robust lab automation and screening programs
• A highly stable, non-adherent surface coating preserves spheroid/organoid morphology and functionality in long-term cultures
• The plate design allows enhanced imaging speed, resolution and improved high content image quality

To complement the ultra-low attachment (ULA) Akura™ Spheroid Microplates, the Akura™ Plus hanging-drop plates are engineered to enable gravity-assisted formation of uniform spheroids while completely preventing surface interactions of the cells. This approach is suitable for many cell types which don’t normally form spheroids on ULA surfaces. Transfer of formed spheroids into Akura™ 96 Spheroid Microplates is possible in a single step.

“We designed our Akura™ plates to address the shortcomings of conventional spheroid and organoid plates,” said Wolfgang Moritz, PhD, InSphero Co-founder. “Over 10 years of development time in cooperation with cell culture experts has resulted in a microplate design with superior functionality, saving time and resources.”

In addition to the microplates, the online store includes the company’s assay-ready solution for liver applications. InSight™ Human Liver Microtissues (multi-donor hepatocytes in co-culture with Kupffer cells and liver endothelial cells) are recognized as the industry 3D gold standard for compound toxicity screening and drug risk assessment of DILI. These assay-ready microtissues are conveniently shipped to research labs in the US, Europe and Canada.

“A critical part of our mission at InSphero is to ensure researchers have convenient access to industry-leading products for 3D cell culture to accelerate their innovative work,” said InSphero CEO and Co-founder Jan Lichtenberg, PhD. “Opening our unique portfolio of 3D cell culture tools through our online store expands the reach of these transformative technologies and contributes to the adoption of more physiologically relevant models for disease research and drug discovery.”

The online store can be accessed via https://shop.insphero.com.

About InSphero

InSphero is the pioneer of industrial-grade, 3D-cell-based assay solutions and scaffold-free 3D organ-on-a-chip technology. Through partnerships, InSphero supports pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers in successful decision-making by accurately rebuilding the human physiology in vitro. Its robust and precisely engineered suite of 3D InSight™ human tissue platforms are used by major pharmaceutical companies worldwide to increase efficiency in drug discovery and safety testing. The company specializes in liver toxicology, metabolic diseases (e.g., T1 & T2 diabetes and NAFLD & NASH liver disease), and oncology (with a focus on immuno-oncology and PDX models). The scalable Akura™ technology underlying the company’s 3D InSight™ Discovery and Safety Platforms includes 96 and 384-well plate formats and the Akura™ Flow organ-on-a-chip system to drive efficient innovation throughout all phases of drug development.

Learn more at www.insphero.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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