Organovo

Organovo is an early-stage medical laboratory and research company which designs and develops functional, three dimensional human tissue (also known as 3D bioprinting technology) for medical research and therapeutic applications. Organovo was established in 2007 and is headquartered in San Diego, California. The company uses its internally developed NovoGen MMX Bioprinter for 3D bioprinting.

Organovo
TypePublic
NASDAQ: ONVO
Russell 2000 Index component
IndustryBiotech
Founded2007
HeadquartersSan Diego, California, USA
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Taylor J. Crouch (CEO)[1]
RevenueUS$ 4,230,000 (2017)
Total assetsUS$ 62,091,000 (2016)
Websitewww.organovo.com
Footnotes / references
[2]

Operations

The company bioprints and markets human tissues as a means of accelerating the preclinical drug testing and discovery process, enabling treatments to be created more quickly and at lower cost, and without immediate risks to living test subjects. Organovo has long-term expectations that this technology could be suitable for surgical therapy and transplantation.[3] Organovo also partners with biopharmaceutical companies and academic medical centers to design, build, and validate more predictive in vitro tissues for disease modeling and toxicology. The living test tissues provide researchers the opportunity to test drugs before administering the drug to a living person; this bridges the gap between preclinical testing and clinical trials.

Organovo is actively developing its technology with the intention of eventually being able to replicate entire human organs for transplant.[4]

As of 2014, the company's executive vice-president of commercial operations was Mike Renard.[5]

In 2015, Organovo signed an agreement to provide processes and technology to produce 3D printed human skin to L'Oreal for use in testing the safety and efficacy of cosmetic products.[6]

3D bioprinting process

The human body is made up of different cell types and many technologies for printing these cells vary in their ability to ensure stability and viability of the cells during the manufacturing process. The methods used for 3D bioprinting of cells are photolithography, magnetic 3D bioprinting, stereolithography, and direct cell extrusion. In each process, a physical biopsy of an organ is required. Certain cells from the biopsy are isolated and multiplied. These cells are then mixed with a liquefied material that provides oxygen and other nutrients to keep them alive outside of the human body. The mixture is then placed in a printer cartridge and structured using the patients’ medical scans.[7]

Public Awareness

Gabor Forgacs, the scientific founder of Organovo, promoted medical bioprinting in a TEDMED presentation in 2011. He discussed how bioprinting may solve problems that pertain to organ shortages and high medical costs.[8]

References
  1. Management, Company WebSite
  2. "NASDAQ | Invalid Input". secfilings.nasdaq.com. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  3. "Utilizing Organovo Bioprinted Human Tissues in Research: living, three-dimensional human tissue models for research and therapeutic applications". Organovo.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  4. Russon, Mary-Ann (July 3, 2015). "Organovo CEO: 3D bioprinting organs will help us get people off transplant waiting lists". International Business Times. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  5. Dyle, Ken (15 May 2014). "Bioprinting:From Patches to Parts". Gen. Eng. Biotechnol. News (paper) |format= requires |url= (help). 34 (10): 1, 34–5.
  6. King, Leo (May 20, 2015). "L'Oreal Seeks Quantum Leap With 3D Printed Skin". Forbes. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  7. Cooper-White, Macrina (March 1, 2015). "How 3D Printing Could End The Deadly Shortage Of Donor Organs". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  8. Gabor Forgacs (December 5, 2011). "Introduction to Bioprinting". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
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