Organovo Collaborates with Professor Melissa Little for Kidney Tissue Research

Organovo Holdings, Inc., a three-dimensional biology company focused on delivering scientific and medical breakthroughs using its 3D bioprinting technology, today announced a collaboration with Professor Melissa Little and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, to develop an architecturally correct kidney for potential therapeutic applications. The collaboration has been made possible by a generous gift from the Methuselah Foundation as part of its ongoing University 3D Bioprinter Program.

"Partnerships with world-class institutions can accelerate ground breaking work in finding cures for critical unmet disease needs and the development of implantable therapeutic tissues," said Keith Murphy, CEO, Organovo. "This collaboration with Professor Little's lab is another important step in this direction. With the devoted and ongoing support of the Methuselah Foundation, leading researchers are able to leverage Organovo's powerful technology platform to achieve significant breakthroughs."

"We have developed an approach for recreating human kidney tissue from stem cells," said Professor Melissa Little, Theme Director of Cell Biology at Murdoch Children's Research Institute.  "Using Organovo's bioprinter will give us the opportunity to bioprint these cells into a more accurate model of the kidney.  While initially important for modelling disease and screening drugs, we hope that this is also the first step towards regenerative medicine for kidney disease.  We are very grateful to Organovo and the Methuselah Foundation for this generous support, which will enable us to advance our research with the first Organovo bioprinter in the southern hemisphere."  

Under Methuselah Foundation's University 3D Bioprinter Program, Methuselah is donating at least $500,000 in direct funding to be divided among several institutions for Organovo bioprinter research projects.  This funding will cover budgeted bioprinter costs and key aspects of project execution.

"We at the Methuselah Foundation have been a long-time supporter of academic and industry research in 3D bioprinting, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering," said David Gobel, CEO, Methuselah Foundation. "Our University 3D Bioprinter Program puts Organovo's breakthrough 3D bioprinting technology in the hands of the brightest scientists at tissue engineering centers of excellence."