Our mission is to help bring more effective, safer, and more accessible therapies for neuromuscular- and metabolic diseases, and diseases causing heart failure. With a global combined disease prevalence of over 1 billion patients, the need for preclinical testing platforms that are efficient and provide physiologically relevant outcomes is critical. The limitations of traditional tissue evaluation methods and 2D in vitro models lead to inefficiencies in therapy development pathways, making them both costly and time consuming. Where time is a precious thing for those suffering from these diseases, new innovations to support and advance ongoing and continuous research and development activities are needed.
Introducing Cuore: the next generation 3D contraction force platform, providing a precise functional readout for engineered muscle bundles for both skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue. Cuore revolutionizes 3D tissue culture for therapy development in heart failure, neuromuscular, and metabolic diseases as it allows the production and analysis of advanced in vitro systems to model biology, disease, and drug response of contractile tissues. It is a pillar-based system for real-time recording and continuous stimulation of contractile activity of engineered tissues. Designed to comply with a 24-well plate format, it integrates fiber optical sensing and Electrical Pulse Stimulation (EPS). Cuore is a modular platform in which you can culture, monitor, stimulate and analyze engineered muscle bundles.
Increase the relevance of your functional assay by generating and closely monitoring (human) 3D muscle bundles in near-physiological conditions. Experience the benefits of 3D in vitro modeling in your research. This approach unlocks access to structural complexity, improved cell behavior, and enhanced mechanical properties and tissue maturation. Additionally, it offers more accurate cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions, allowing you to prolong your experiments. This extended duration closely mimics the pathological in vivo conditions.
Perform functional studies that would have otherwise been impossible in 2D. This specifically relates to measurement of contractility, either spontaneously occurring or induced by Electrical Pulse Stimulation (EPS), which is a key feature in studying cardiac and skeletal muscle biology and disease. Cuore can be used as a potency assay for drugs in cardiac or muscle-related therapies. It also provides an excellent platform to identify negative side-effects on cell lines, such as cardiotoxicity in preclinical drug development stage.
Cuore is a scalable and efficient platform for growing (human) muscle bundles between two pillars over extended periods of time. The unique design and functionalities allow you not only to save time throughout your experiment but also to culture high quality tissues with yields up to 95% after first transfer, resulting in reproducibility across multiple cell-lines.
*Yields from validated cardiac and skeletal protocols.
Distinguish even the smallest contraction patterns by measuring unfiltered muscle contractility with high force resolution. Cuore is the only platform on the market that utilizes direct force sensing through optical fiber technology, allowing to measure contractility directly and quantifiably with unparalleled precision.
The 24-well plate design with automated, simultaneous, multichannel recording, allows for the automated execution of pre-designed and customizable protocols to run independently without the need for manual intervention.
Automated large data analysis with instantaneous results and easy extraction of key parameters, such as peak force and relaxation times, through the accompanied, intuitive CUOREviewer analysis software.
The unique combination of features in Cuore unlocks the potential for creating more promising human disease models, making it suitable for studying cell- or genetic therapies, as well as short- and long-term drug treatments related to neuromuscular disorders, metabolic diseases, and heart failure. The system’s capacity for the functional characterization of healthy and diseased cell lines, derived from iPSCs or primary cells, holds high relevance and importance. This process is essential for understanding cellular behaviors in 3D, which is a critical step in developing more promising human disease models for advanced research and therapeutic applications.
Drug screening/toxicity
Functional assays
Quality control
Mechanobiology Research
Cuore is a pillar-based system for standard 24-well plates that use integrated fiber optical sensing and EPS for continuous stimulation and real-time recording of contractile activity of engineered muscle tissues. The technology uses light interferometry and optical fibers for unprecedented sensitivity, being capable of measuring contractions with a micron Newton resolution. The multiplexing nature of optical fibers allows for simultaneous multichannel recording.
A fully integrated culture device that includes next to force-sensing, an electrode board for stimulation of 3D muscle bundles and a closing see-through lid to provide an enclosed and sterile environment that can be fully operated both inside and outside the incubator.
Innovative design allows compatibility with:
“One of the advantages of optical fiber technology is multi-channeling: a light source can split and propagate its signal through multiple reflective paths, represented by the fiber optics in Cuore sensing component.”
Our platform’s utilization of optical interference for muscle bundle contraction measurement sets it apart. This innovative approach provides exceptional acquisition speed and sensitivity, surpassing conventional methods such as video-based or magnetic impedance technologies. This unique feature grants users’ access to unique insights into contraction characteristics. Additionally, the platform’s high sensitivity reduces the required number of cells and expands the range of pillar stiffness, enabling emulation of a broader spectrum of in vivo conditions. Unlike conventional methods that demand significant motion to detect contraction changes. The nature of Cuore-technology forms the foundation to scale up higher formats soon.
The technology employed in Cuore allows for reproducible and multichannel force measurements down to a micron Newtons resolution while maintaining sterility and permitting continuous non-invasive recording within and outside standard tissue culture incubators.
Our system seamlessly integrates electrical stimulation and optical force read-out into a singular functional unit, the Smart Lid. Its cohesive modular design uniquely employs reusable components, yielding substantial cost savings. Aside from financial benefits, the plug-and-play nature of the system promotes scalability through functional unit additions – it allows you to scale up throughput by stimulating up to 4 Smart Lids or 96 tissues at the same time. Transitioning between the units is effortlessly achieved due to factory calibration and saved configured settings of each Smart Lid.
“Through my work on cardiac disease modelling with pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC’s), I see an emergent need for massive parallel end-to-end force testing technology on engineered heart tissue. This will enable more accurate phenotyping and more effective drug targeting during early drug development. Optics11 Life’s fiber sensing technology is uniquely qualified to offer a powerful solution.”
“Using the Cuore was a step-up for our muscle-on-chip research. Thanks to its accuracy, ease of use and integration, we maximized the data production from our experiments.”
Whether your focus lies on mechanical measurements and characterization at the cell scale, or you work with muscle tissues, our platforms offer you precise, fast, and accurate outcomes. Discover more about how our products can help you accelerate and achieve your research goals.
With a wide range of application areas, across an array of samples, for various disease areas and testing needs, we can provide you with precise insights into mechanical cues to advance your translational research. Learn more about our applications here.
We are a growing team of 60+ passionate people, headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Learn more about our journey so far, meet our team of professionals, and our career opportunities.
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