Aspect Biosystems made it into the top 15 companies in the BCIC New Ventures Competition; one of North America’s largest technology business idea competitions. Early-stage entrepreneurs get support from the BC Innovation Council through education, mentorship, and exposure to help build a successful company while competing to win one of several prize packages.
The team has successfully made it through the Idea Round and the Feasibility Test. On August 6 they will present a Condensed Venture Plan and if they make it to the final, and we are very confident they will, the team goes on to make their pitch in-person to a jury.
Aspect Biosystems’ bio-printing technology has the potential to drastically reduce the cost of drug development. Today it takes $1-4 billion and 12-14 years to develop a drug. One of the primary reasons for the high cost and time spent is the poor predictive accuracy of the front end drug discovery process. Conventional drug development and testing methods rely on the use of 2D cell cultures and animal models. 2D cell cultures are grown on flat, hard surfaces that prevent cells from interacting with their environment in a natural way. 3D cultures are grown in a flexible, protein environment that more closely mimics conditions within the body. Recent studies have demonstrated that 3D cell co-cultures better represent in vivo conditions compared to the standard 2D cultures currently being used in the drug discovery process and have the potential to replace animal models. Aspect Biosystems aims to improve the predictive accuracy of the front end drug discovery process by providing pharmaceutical companies with high-efficacy printed tissue models that better mimic in vivo conditions.
Find out more: