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Honolulu, HI, October 2, 2024—Oceanit has launched a three-year project with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to better understand and treat disorders in the human lymphatic system.
The lymphatic system, a critical part of the immune system, includes tissues and organs that protect the body from infection and disease. However, this system is vulnerable to life-threatening conditions, including development and spreading of cancers and disorders such as lymphedema. The lymphatic system is also peripherally involved in many common disease states. Oceanit’s research will focus on developing a lymphatic “vasculature assay kit,” allowing for faster and more accurate testing of the effects of drugs and other factors on the structure and function of the lymphatic system.
The in-vitro lymphatic assay kit, called the “LymphoLab ProDiscover Kit,” will be affordable, modular, and scalable, allowing research into lymphatic tissue development, function, disease, and treatment. It will also work with widely available imaging techniques, making it easier to observe tissue function and response to cellular stimuli in lab environments across the USA and beyond.
Organoids, or miniature three-dimensional synthesized organs, will be the foundation of these in-vitro assay kits. This new approach to lymphatic research is designed to replicate the complexity of real human organs and enable scientists to study the lymphatic system’s response to treatments, disease, and other stimuli. Oceanit is creating the scaffold frameworks and three-dimensional structures to form complex tissues and organs for more relevant research and development. The kit allows for experimentation with lymphatic tissues in a physiologically relevant microenvironment.
“This research will have a significant impact on the understanding and treatment of lymphatic disorders as well as the general development of organoid creation,” said Oceanit’s CEO, Dr. Patrick K. Sullivan. “The methods developed here will promote rapid drug discovery, new forms of tissue engineering, and personalized medicine that could save millions of lives.”
Beyond the lymphatic system, Oceanit’s research will have far-reaching impacts for limiting animal testing in other disciplines, more accurate and efficient drug screening, disease modeling, and personalized medicine applications. The team is working with ARPA-H and other partners to bring the LymphoLab to widespread market availability.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), part of the Department of Health & Human Services, supports cutting-edge transformative biomedical and health breakthroughs. ARPA-H was formed in 2022 to improve the U.S. government’s ability to speed biomedical and health research. Since then, ARPA-H has invested in breakthrough technologies with the potential to transform important areas of medicine and health that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity.
Founded in 1985 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Oceanit is a disruptive technology company with a world-class reputation for breakthrough science and disruptive innovation built upon values of curiosity, community, and ‘ohana. We are a skilled group of scientists, engineers, and innovators who tackle the world’s most difficult problems.
