The Governing Council of the University of Toronto

Purpose

Delivery of drugs to the central nervous system is hampered by the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a complex structure composed of multiple cells types and tissues that is subjected to forces due to blood flow. Current brain drug development relies on cells in dishes or animal models of the BBB that do not fully mimic human physiology and therefore cannot effectively predict whether a therapeutic will cross the BBB in a patient. Improved BBB models are necessary to overcome these challenges. To this end, we will develop novel microfluidic chips into which laboratory BBB models can 3D bioprinted, grown, and used to test drug compounds in an environment that mimics key aspects of the human BBB. These platforms are expected to improve the drug development pipeline by reducing animal usage and drug development costs while improving the identification of promising drug candidates.