Congratulations to Kadi Lõhmussaar from reNEW Copenhagen, who received a Scientific Exchange Grant from EMBO. This grant supports international collaborations and enables transfer of expertise.
Professor Susana Chuva de Sousa Lopes, reNEW Leiden PI, receives an ERC Proof of Concept grant that allows her to develop a stem cell-based screening assay for toxic effects of chemical compounds and environmental factors on male fertility. This will provide a valuable alternative to current expensive, time-consuming and often unreliable toxicity testing in animal models. The assay can in the future be used by the private sector to assess toxicity during early stages of drug development and thereby provides financial, ethical and societal benefits.
Declining male fertility is an emerging public health crisis, and it’s in part caused by exposure to environmental factors and chemical compounds that negatively impact male reproductive health. Traditionally, new drugs are tested for reproductive toxicity using animal models before reaching the market. However, this approach comes with limitations. Chuva de Sousa Lopes explains: “This risk assessment pathway is necessary but time-consuming, expensive, and not always meaningful as effects in animals differ from those in humans.”
ReproTox
Chuva de Sousa Lopes will build on her expertise in stem cells and reproductive biology to further the development of an innovative human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-based assay that addresses these challenges. The assay – ReproTox – leverages the differentiation of hiPSCs to sperm progenitor cells which are subsequently exposed to chemicals and environmental factors to assess their effect on male fertility.
During this project, Chuva de Sousa Lopes and her lab will partner with Leiden-SME Toxys and they will first focus on the technological optimization of the assay to ensure the assay is scalable, standardized and allows for high-throughput screening. “Our goal is to then develop a user-friendly web tool with automated segmentation and machine learning algorithms to assess toxicity in a standardized and reliable manner,” explains Chuva de Sousa Lopes.
From Idea to Impact
To demonstrate the effectiveness of the assay, the team will then perform a pilot screen using FDA-approved compounds toxic for male reproduction. This will provide crucial data and insights needed for market research and defining a route to commercialization. She concludes: “With this ERC Proof of Concept grant, we aim to ensure our assay can be used by the private sector in the future. Reducing the number of compounds showing male reproductive toxicity in humans at very early stages of drug development will contribute to effective first-tier toxicity screening. In conclusion, ReproTox promises to significantly reduce and replace animal testing, bringing economic, societal, environmental and ethical advantages.”
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ERC Proof of Concept grants help researchers to bridge the gap between discoveries stemming from their frontier research and the practical application of the findings, including early phases of their commercialization.
Image credit: Marjolein Trimp
