① Development Background

As the demand for the efficacy evaluation market increases due to the growth of the hair loss market and the expanding need for animal replacement tests in compliance with the Animal Test Prohibition Act within the cosmetics industry, new efficacy evaluation technology is being developed. This technology is based on the mass manufacturing of 3D hair follicle organoids, which exhibit a strong correlation with the human body.

② Substrates and Principles of Action
[Introduction to Substrates and Operational Principles]

■ Controlling the area and size of cell aggregation, organoid density, and spacing between organoids are possible through the low adhesion method employed by biomaterial-fabricated silica.

■ Providing a user-customized 3D spheroid cell culture platform, it involves cells generating organoids and maintaining adhesion. This is accomplished by applying cell-responsive materials onto a non-adhesive substrate, precisely tailored to align with cell characteristics and the intended purpose of use. 

<Silica Particles Coated with Functional Particles>

<Substrate Structure>

[Features]
■ Utilizing Fluorescent-Free Film (Cyclo Olefin Polymer) as the substrate base, allowing for fluorescent observation.

■ Forming highly adhesive 3D spheroids using cell-friendly functional peptides.

■ Enabling automated data analysis through high-content screening (HCS) equipment or individual organoid observation through fluorescence analysis. With the capability to manufacture a large quantity of organoids (up to 60 per well) within 7 days, it ensures rapid acquisition of highly reproducible and reliable results.

<Organoid Fluorescence Images Analyzed by HCS Equipment> 

 <Electron Microscopic Images of Substrate Patterns and Arrayed Biomaterial-fabricated Silica, Along with Organoids Grown on the Patterns>

③ Application Areas / Advantages

Optimized for the specific analysis objectives, the co-culture of dermal papilla cells and keratinocytes is optimized to efficiently generate a large number of uniform-sized 3D organoids (60 spheroids/well), which enables a prompt evaluation of analyte efficacy within a week, ensuring the analysis results' high reliability and reproducibility.

④ Experiment Case

Treating manufactured organoids (60 data/Well) with candidate substances and analyzing the results through HCS equipment, we measured an increase of 13.4% in the length and 11.4% in the thickness of keratinocytes compared to the untreated group. By confirming the efficacy of numerous candidate substances through mass experimental results within a short period, this serves as an effective and reliable in vitro efficacy test, potentially replacing animal testing immediately before clinical trials.