Modelling COVID-19 in humanized lungs ex vivo

The outbreak of COVID-19 has devastated the whole world. The conventional drug-discovery-pipeline to develop a new drug for this novel disease does not fulfill the immediate demand for a therapy. The scientific outcomes of in vitro models do not recapitulate the physiological conditions and in vivo models are not yet operational. Therefore, there is a need for a robust platform to undertake extensive pre-clinical studies to rapidly provide a thorough understanding of any pharmaceutical agent of interest prior to proceeding to clinical trials. We have developed humanized lungs that previously demonstrated promising results when tested for ventilation induced injuries and other lung destructive lung diseases. Using the same principals enable us to model COVID-19 in humanized lungs, which will closely resemble COVID-19 acute respiratory syndrome. Our model will enable rapid but comprehensive studies in the efficacy and mechanisms of putative drugs for COVID-19.

Faculty Supervisor:

Ian Rogers

Student:

Mohammadali Ahmadipour

Partner:

ExVilent

Discipline:

Engineering - biomedical

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Toronto