Video Demonstration of MIMIC™ Technology
The MIMIC™ process and technology are described in greater detail in the video below. A complete transcription is below as well.
Transcription
VaxDesign's artificial immune system, or AIS, is a new way of testing vaccines and drug that significantly reduces the amount of time and money spent on drug discovery. Today you'll see how MIMIC™ works.
At the heart of MIMIC™ is the 96-wellplate, which houses the tissue-engineered vaccination site and lymphoid tissue equivalent (LTE), the main components of the artificial immune system. Each of the wells is equal to one human test subject, one immune system. Nintety-six wells means 96 immune systems.
Instead of testing or tracking a drug or vaccine's effects on live animal subjects, as is done today, these wellplates let us perform the same tests but in a much more controlled and automated environment. Because each well is like a portable immune system, these tests can be performed much more quickly while maintaining a high degree of reliability and predictability.
The artificial immune system is not just a concept; it is actually an automated process to produce analyzable immune responses that help determine a vaccine's effectiveness.
First, we prepare the 96-wellplates. To mimic a three-dimensional environment, the plates have been seated with a collagen layer. On top of it, we have an endothelium, which is formed by a culture of HUVEC cells.
Next, we take peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from a human donor and put them into the 96-well format. These PBMCs are now part of the vaccination site. The monocytes from the PBMCs selectively migrate through the endothelium. After migration, they spontaneously differentiate into antigen-presenting dendritic cells (DCs). They are now able to pick up the host antigen or vaccine introduced into the construct.
The dendritic cells can reverse-transmigrate back through the endothelium, allowing us to extract them using a pipette. These now-potent antigen-presenting cells are then placed into the lymphoid tissue equivalent (LTE). The LTE is made up of co-cultures of T and B cells.
When the dendritic cells present their antigen to the right receptor-matched T cells, a chain reaction occurs. The antigen activates T cells, which can then activate B cells to form antibodies and other cytokines. These predictive immune responses represent the goal of MIMIC™.
Once created, we remove the cytokines and antibodies from the LTE and the media with the pipette and analyze them in real-time using a high-throughput analyzer.
The antibodies will attach to ELISA-like detection microbeads from which we can then determine:
- Class
- Subtype
- Subclass
- Specificity, and
- Any other customer specifications.
Finally, the antibodies and cytokines attached to the microbeads are placed in an automated platereader where they will be further analyzed to characterize the different types of cytokines and antibodies produced.
By automating this immune response production and analysis, we form a more predictive platform of human immunity, while drastically reducing the time and costs to produce new drugs and vaccines, accelerating their development and lab-to-market schedule.