HUB and Yamaha Motor Combine their Proprietary Technologies
Hubrecht Organoid Technology (HUB) and Yamaha Motor have announced their collaboration to provide solutions that deepen our understanding in predictive diagnostic of patients.
HUB has announced an innovative collaboration with Yamaha Motor to support organoid research applications in drug development and personalized medicine. With this collaboration, HUB aims to develop new methods for Organoid research and precision medicine in a short timeframe with as little material as possible. Automatization of this process by CELL HANDLER*1 would greatly increase accuracy, efficiency and throughput.
HUB Organoids
HUB exploits the pioneering work of Prof. Hans Clevers, who discovered methods to grow stem cell-derived human ‘mini-organs’ (HUB Organoids). Organoid Technology enables the generation of in-vitro models of any epithelial disease from any patient. HUB Organoids mimic organ functionality and are considered to be a clinically relevant model for human diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis, oncology and toxicology. HUB Organoids perform as “Patients in the Lab” and allow a better understanding of tumor heterogeneity and drug response. HUB has established a “Living Biobank” that links patient-specific genetic and phenotypic information to pre-clinical drug discovery, compounds validation and clinical drug-responsiveness. As a drug development tool, HUB organoids can efficiently identify novel therapeutic targets, provide drug efficacy, safety and mechanistical data.
HUB offers licenses to its patented HUB Organoid Technology for drug-screening and access to Organoids in the HUB biobanks for pre-clinical drug discovery and validation. In addition, HUB is performing clinical studies to validate the technologies used as a companion diagnostic.
Yamaha Motor’s CELL HANDLER
Beginning with its foundation in motorcycle business, Yamaha Motor has leveraged its core competencies of small-engine technology, vehicle body/hull technology, and control technology to span a diverse range of businesses such as the marine business (boats, outboard motors, etc.), power products business (snowmobiles, generators, etc.), industrial robots, electrical power assisted bicycles, and automobile engines. The Yamaha Motor Group includes 140 companies across 30 countries and regions worldwide, which work through product development, manufacturing, and sales, to realize the Corporate Mission of being a “Kando*2 Creating Company.”
Yamaha Motor has developed a cell picking and imaging system CELL HANDLER for scientific research. It adopts pick-and-place technology from industrial robots like ultra-fast and highly accurate surface mounters designed to mount electric components on printed circuit boards inside electronic devices, e.g., cellular phones and automobiles. CELL HANDLER saves time and efforts and enables cell quality control by simultaneously picking cells and capturing and processing images at a speed and accuracy that would be difficult to achieve when performed manually. As such, Yamaha aims to keep contributing to medical research and drug discovery fields.
*1For research use only. Not for use in diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
*2Kando is a Japanese word for the simultaneous feelings of deep satisfaction and intense excitement that we experience when we encounter something of exceptional value.
