Recapitulating The Multifaceted Inflammatory Environment Of The Intestine In Vitro

By Bailey Zwarycz, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Altis Biosystems

Inflammation is a key factor in many intestinal diseases, including cancer, celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, irritable bowel disease (IBS), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A major clinical and research focus is IBD, which is a broad term encompassing ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), as it effects a significant portion of the population, yet few treatments have been discovered.

Intestinal inflammatory diseases are highly complex, which has thus far prevented development of an effective in vitro disease model. With access to a donor-derived cell biobank and the ability to recapitulate regionspecific environments of the intestine, Altis Biosystems is working toward the development of an in vitro RepliGut model to accurately recapitulate the complex intestinal inflammatory microenvironments.