IRVING, Texas, Feb. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Darling
Ingredients Inc. (NYSE: DAR) today announced that its Rousselot
Biomedical brand is joining the European project ENLIGHT.
Researchers from academic centers and leading industries across
Europe are joining forces to
develop a living model of the pancreas to enable better testing of
diabetes medication. This model is manufactured using a new method
of bioprinting invented at the UMC Utrecht and EPFL, and
specialized stem cells studied by ETH Zurich and the University of
Naples. With eight European
partners a new bioprinter that, using visible light, prints stem
cells three-dimensionally into functional pancreatic tissues. The
ENLIGHT project has received a 4-year grant from the European
innovation Council fund Horizon 2020. The aim is to realize the
first working tissue model within three years.
The ENLIGHT partners have been granted a contribution of
3.6 million euros by the
European Innovation Fund. Led by the UMC Utrecht, the
multidisciplinary consortium consists of Ecole Polytechnique
Federale de Lausanne and ETH Zürich (Switzerland), the University of Naples
Federico II (Italy), AstraZeneca
(Sweden), Rousselot (Belgium), Readily 3D (Switzerland) and Fondazione Giannino Bassetti
(Italy).
Rousselot®'s Biomedical team will create an ultra-fast, visible
light induced, cross-linkable extracellular matrix (ECM) like
hydrogel mimicking the pancreas structure using X-Pure®. X-Pure
biomedical grade gelatins are ideal for 3D bioprinting and tissue
engineering owing to guaranteed ultra-low impurity levels and
tunable physical/chemical properties. "The topo- and geometrical
cues and composition provided by the ECM together with morphogens
and biochemical signals are important determinants of cell fate in
vitro and in vivo. With other words, the design and purity of the
ECM like structure is a crucial part of the ENLIGHT project,"
according to Jos Olijve, Scientific Support Manager and project
contact from Rousselot.
Advantages of bioprint tissue
The use of tissue from a
3D bioprinter has several major advantages. When testing drugs, for
example. These 'personalized' models could eliminate the need for
animal testing, accelerate drug discovery for pharmaceutical
industries, and reduce the burden on individual patients, as they
would no longer have to experiment with different drugs until one
works. This is not only important for diabetes patients, but can –
if the model works – also be used for other diseases, such as
cancer. Riccardo Levato,
biofabrication researcher at the UMC Utrecht and coordinator of
ENLIGHT: "With cells from a patient, practitioners can recreate the
diseased tissue. Subsequently, a laboratory test can be performed
to determine which candidate medication has the greatest effect.
This spares patients a long search with unpleasant side effects,
saves on treatment costs, and leads to the best available care for
individual patients.''
Proof of principle
The ENLIGHT project initially
focuses on diabetes and will apply new bioprinting techniques to
create pancreatic tissue. The pancreas plays a vital role in
producing enzymes and hormones including insulin, but this can be
insufficient in diabetic patients. "Diabetes is a deliberate choice
because of its social relevance. Besides asthma, it is the most
common chronic disease in children. Despite the growing demand for
care for patients with diabetes, the development of new drugs
(besides insulin therapy) is lagging behind," the ENLIGHT
coordinator says. "Once we make a living model of the pancreas, we
have proof of principle and can progress to testing diabetes
medication with it. This will prove the effectiveness of the
new bioprinting technique which we can apply much more widely to
potentially make all living models of all types of tissue."
Volumetric bioprinter
To make this possible in the
future, the ENLIGHT researchers intend to achieve two
breakthroughs. The first is a newly developed bioprinter, which can
reproduce part of the human body, including living cells, at
lightning speed. Unlike a conventional 3D printer which takes an
hour, this volumetric bioprinter produces results within a minute.
This is important because the survival rate of the cells decreases
rapidly over time, so printing at speed is essential. Once the
bioprinter has created a living 3D model of human tissue, the
second step is to recreate functionality at the human organ
level.
Riccardo Levato, coordinator of
ENLIGHT: "If you want to fabricate pancreatic tissue, the 3D model
has to look and function like a pancreas. We want to achieve this
in the printing phase by adding signaling molecules, which tell the
cells stimulated by the printer, how to behave."
The project aims to create a living model of the pancreas,
including hormonal functions in just four years. In the longer
term, the ENLIGHT project has the potential to create innovative
solutions to address the shortage of donor organs for
transplantation and regenerative medicine.
Disclaimer: The project leading to this application has
received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program under grant agreement No 964497
More information on the ENLIGHT project can be
found on de EU CORDIS
website:
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/964497
About Rousselot Biomedical
As the most recent
strategic segment within Rousselot, we have drawn upon Rousselot's
130+ years of worldwide expertise and proven track record of
pharmaceutical gelatins and collagens to develop X-Pure®, an
innovative range of purified (modified) gelatins and collagens
specifically designed for biomedical applications. Offering unique
advantages to assure performance, quality and safety, X-Pure is
backed by strong scientific data and on-going research. Rousselot
Biomedical is committed to facilitating the use of X-Pure in your
applications and to help "Advancing medical science".
About Darling Ingredients
Darling Ingredients Inc. is
a global developer and producer of sustainable natural ingredients
from edible and inedible bio-nutrients, creating a wide range of
ingredients and specialty solutions for customers in the
pharmaceutical, food, pet food, feed, technical, fuel, bioenergy,
and fertilizer industries. With operations on five
continents, the Company collects and transforms all aspects of
animal by-product streams into useable and specialty ingredients,
such as gelatin, edible fats, feed-grade fats, animal proteins and
meals, plasma, pet food ingredients, organic fertilizers, yellow
grease, fuel feedstocks, green energy, natural casings and
hides. The Company also recovers and converts recycled oils
(used cooking oil and animal fats) into valuable feed and fuel
ingredients and collects and processes residual bakery products
into feed ingredients. In addition, the Company provides
environmental services, such as grease trap collection and disposal
services to food service establishments. The Company sells its
products domestically and internationally and operates within three
industry segments: Feed Ingredients, Food Ingredients and Fuel
Ingredients. For additional information, visit the Company's
website at http://www.darlingii.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Some of the statements made in
this press release are forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations
and projections about future events and generally relate to our
plans, objectives and expectations for the development of our
business. Although management believes that the plans and
objectives reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking
statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties and actual future results may be materially
different from the plans, objectives and expectations expressed in
this press release.
For more
information contact:
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Investors
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Rousselot
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Jim
Stark
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Caroline
Brochard-Garnier
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VP, Investor
Relations
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Director,
Communications & PR
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+1 (972)
281-4823
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+33 1 46 67 87
27
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James.stark@darlingii.com
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caroline.brochard-garnier@rousselot.com
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SOURCE Darling Ingredients Inc.