Bioenvironmental Devices
SUMMARY
We’re a young and talented group of entrepreneurs and engineers with a groundbreaking idea designed to contribute towards a better tomorrow. We provide innovative solutions for research centers and laboratories and pride ourselves on our unparalleled, dedicated service. At BIOENCE, we believe that the right understanding and technological edge can lead society towards a successful future.
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In the field of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and drug delivery, bioreactors are key devices since they enable in-vitro organ modelling and cell cultivation for research studies and therapeutic treatments, since they provide the proper physiological environment. One key element of the bioreactor is the scaffold, are the biomaterials that interface the bioreactor and the cells. It plays an important role as support on cell adhesion, migration, proliferation, and differentiation, which provides structural architecture and morphologies to mimic native extracellular matrix. Further, biomaterials can be tailored not only to be passively tolerated by the organism, but also to provide the appropriate environment to assist specific cell responses. Up to now, the scaffolds are static, meaning that there is not an active stimulus in the scaffold.
Notwithstanding, there is a way to obtain dynamic stimuli through the scaffolds, and this is by using smart scaffolds. Smart materials are materials that when subjected to external stimuli present significant, reproducible, and stable variations of at least one of their properties. The smart scaffolds designed here, produce the electrical and mechanical stimulations present in the microenvironment of skeletal muscle tissue, which can influence several properties of the bone or muscle cells, such as the proliferation rate, the hypertrophy and cell response.
Smart scaffolds (e.g. electroactive, mechanoactive, thermoactive) work jointly with the bioreactor actuation offering another level of cellular stimulation providing a more realistic biological environment. The dynamic stimulation locally into the cell sites, brings new prospects in terms of research and market since the materials for smart scaffolds production are composed by biocompatible assemble of polymers and nanoparticles.
Our devices enhance the investigation of cellular processes and their interactions since they work with models, most precisely in-vitro models that allow us to predict metabolism, toxicity, and drug activity in-vivo, providing the great opportunity to improve our understanding in these areas, with the aim to develop in the future improved medical therapies, drug therapies & findings on cellular behaviors.
BioDyce aims to introduce a new generation of bioreactors, with different modules, for in-vitro studies that provides a more realistic cellular environment based on the human organism. This biomimetic approach through stimuli and interfacing materials with the cellular sites, enables a suitable workbench for cell cultures processes & studies. Nowadays there is a need of more reliable & dynamic stimuli properly applied locally in the cells (electroactive, magnetoactive, thermoactive); and time is a crucial issue, since pandemics, e.g., Covid-19, are destabilizing the order of the value chain of medical products/treatments; making a palpable urgency the speed, safety & precision of how they are delivered.
The value proposition: they increase the efficiency & reliability of the in-vitro tests, speeding up the development of new medical therapies, medicines, or drug delivery strategies; with parallel benefits: a substantial reduction in animal testing; & a decrease in failure rates in the transition from in-vitro to in-vivo tests. By using more sustainable materials, the price makes them more affordable, and the scalability is possible thanks to its design.
The bioreactors, modules and scaffolds have been designed and developed for laboratory & they are adaptable for industrial use, making the main beneficiaries the researchers of medical areas (e.g. regenerative medicine & drug delivery), pharmaceutical and tissue engineering therapies developers and at the end, the patients.
THE BIOENCE TEAM
Get to Know Us
DR. KARLA MERAZZO
Co-Founder, Managing Director & Physicist
DR. NÉLSON CASTRO
Co-Founder, Engineering Specialist & Device Designer
DR. RICARDO PEREIRA
Co-Founder, Biology Specialist & Technical Sales