From pathobioLogy to synoviA on chip: driving rheuMatoId arthritis to the precisioN medicine GOal

ongoing

FLAMIN-GO aims at developing an Organ-on-Chip technology for clinical trials on Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). In RA, a number of unmet needs still persist particularly related to response/non-response of powerful but expensive drugs. Conventional clinical trials may address part of these challenges, but are time consuming, expensive and ethically ethically doubtful as part of the patients still fail to achieve disease benefits. Thus, the rheumatology community has a need for an alternative strategy that can deliver innovative trials. FLAMIN-GO develops a personalized next-generation synovia-on-chip, that, by effectively mimicking the complexity of RA joint, will allow performing personalized clinical trials-on-chip. The solution will be based on design and fabrication of a multi-compartment microfluidic platform, for 3D culturing and perfusion of all the disease-relevant joint tissues. It focuses on synovia and synovial fluid, which are the pathogenetic targeted tissues, but including immune system, who sustain the disease, and cartilage and bone which are the end damaged tissues, leading to permanent disability. Starting from individual patient biopsies, this model seeks to replicate RA joints, thus allowing to test and allocate the best on-market drug for that patient in 1-2 months starting form biopsy. When validated, the platform will also be a turning point for i) pharma by enabling screening of new drugs reducing costs, time, and animal testing and for ii) translational research for identification of new biomarkers or therapeutic targets. FLAMIN-GO consortium features a strong, well-balanced composition of hospital, academia and industry partners, who cover with complementary expertise the whole value chain. It gathers experts in the fields of rheumatology, material science, tissue engineering, nanotechnology, cell biology and 3D modelling, in a cohesive, transdisciplinary, multi-sectorial approach taking on the challenge to drive RA personalized care.