National Institute of Health (NIH) awards Aracari Biosciences a grant to further develop proprietary human bone marrow technology that models in vivo drug responses

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May 05, 2022, 18:40 ET

Aracari Biosciences is headquartered at University Lab Partners, the premier life science incubator, located in UCI Research Park.

IRVINE, Calif., May 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Aracari Biosciences, Inc. announces a grant award from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to further develop Aracari's proprietary human bone marrow technology that models in vivo drug responses.

The most common adverse drug effect on the human bone marrow is compromised production of neutrophils, which is manifested clinically as neutropenia. The Aracari human bone marrow model ("VMBM") has the unique ability to reproduce the bone marrow microenviroment and show neutrophils exiting the bone marrow and entering the peripheral blood circulation, thereby modeling the clinical signs of neutropenia.

Using small animals to model the human bone marrow's response to chemotherapies or other drugs is resource intensive and can be misleading due to fundamental differences in leukocyte biology between humans and rodents. For example, neutrophils normally comprise 75%-90% of the leukocyte population in human peripheral blood, but only 10%-25% in mice.

"We are very excited that the NIH recognizes the power of Aracari's bone marrow model to predict human responses to the wide array of drugs that either inhibit or stimulate human bone marrow," shares Steven C. George, MD, PhD, Co-founder of Aracari Biosciences.

About Aracari Biosciences, Inc.
Aracari's mission is to increase the success rate of pre-clinical trials and reduce the cost of drug development by using an advanced microphysiological platform of naturally-induced human vascularized tissues to predict drug reactions more accurately in humans.

About University Lab Partners
University Lab Partners (ULP) is a premier, nonprofit, wet lab incubator located in UCI Research Park in Irvine, CA. ULP is a professionally-managed and equipped wet lab facility along with the benefits of peer-to-peer interactions among a life science-focused entrepreneurial community.

Media contact: Ming-I Huang, (718)669-0464, [email protected]

SOURCE University Lab Partners