The M²Aind (Multimodal Analytics and Intelligent Sensorics for the Health Industries) research project is a Public-Private-Partnership project led by Mannheim University of Applied Sciences (MUAS, Hochschule Mannheim). M²Aind kicked off in January 2017 and is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). BRAIN has been an active partner of M²Aind from the start. Joint projects of BRAIN and MUAS include the development of a 3D skin model for better understanding of skin physiology with the aim to provide new insights for health care and cosmetic applications.

Breakthroughs in 3D skin modeling are perceived as potential game changers for various market segments. Current research and development activities for new skin applications are still partly based on 2D cell culture. In such a setting, skin cells are cultivated in one layer in petri dishes before being exposed to selected compounds tested for potential skin applications. Conversely, human skin is organized three-dimensionally which sets quality limits for 2D screening methods. As a consequence, 3D cell culture technologies were developed as early as the 1950s and are successfully used in many laboratories around the world today. The multicellular setting of 3D models allows for a much better interaction of cells with each other and with the extracellular matrix. They are therefore much more representative of the in vivo environment of human skin. Even newer technologies focus on organizing the cells in spherical micro-tissues with the advantage of allowing better standardization and automatization for industrial applications.Current challenges for the broader industrial use of 3D spheroids are rooted in limited methods available to analyze the fast biological processes that take place within the cell. The M²Aind project of MUAS and BRAIN seeks to overcome this limitation by developing new technologies that can visualize the molecular processes that are ongoing in the different skin layers in 3D spheroids in real-time and with high-resolution.

As a first project milestone, the research partners MUAS and BRAIN have now published a review article entitled “In Vitro Skin Three-Dimensional Models and Their Applications” in the Journal of Cellular Biotechnology. The article describes the composition as well as principal features and functions of human skin. It discusses the setup, prerequisites, advantages, and disadvantages of currently available in vitro 3D skin models and compares them in a comprehensive overview table. The key advantages of the new approach within the M²Aind projects are a more realistic understanding of the physiological behavior of skin cells and the discovery of superior small-molecule actives.

Within M²Aind, researchers from MUAS are building on their special knowledge and infrastructure for 3D cell culture and analytics. Dr Rüdiger Rudolf, Professor of Biosensorics at MUAS and coordinator of the M²Aind impulse project M²OGA, says: “The review article also gives an outlook on prospective future developments, including the use and exploitation of novel human stem cell technologies for personalized diagnosis, therapy development, and regenerative medicine. The review serves as a guide for choosing appropriate cell models in skin pharmaceutical and cosmetics research and has helped the cooperation partners BRAIN and MUAS in further shaping common goals.”BRAIN has developed special expertise for engineering reporter cells in human skin for industrial applications. This knowledge plus knowledge of market-relevant application fields is now being transferred into M²Aind. Dr Torsten Ertongur-Fauth, Research Scientist & Project Manager at BRAIN, says: “3D spheroid models of the skin are great tools to understand how skin cells are coping with detrimental environmental influences, for example mechanical stress, UV radiation or pathogens. However, it is still challenging to visualize the molecular processes that are ongoing in the different keratinocyte layers in real-time and with high-resolution. So, we are very pleased to have the support of our partner MUAS to further develop our unique skin reporter cells into advanced 3D models that allow industrial screenings for new small-molecule actives.”The timeframe for M²Aind is four years with the potential for additional four years upon positive mid-term evaluation. Currently 37 partners from industry and research are involved. The BMBF funding for the first four years period has been approved for EUR 6 Mio.

Further information

Journal of Cellular Biotechnology 3 (2017) 21-39: In Vitro Skin Three-Dimensional Models and Their Applications, DOI 10.3233/JCB-179004, IOS Press.