Optics11 Life and Axol Bioscience Improve Standardization and Reproducibility in Cardiac Research

Key Points

• Optics11 Life and Axol Bioscience have partnered to support more standardized and reproducible cardiac research using 3D engineered heart tissue.
• The collaboration includes a validated workflow for tissue preparation, culture, electrical stimulation, and contractility testing using human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes and the Cuore platform.
• The workflow is intended to support applications in disease modeling, drug discovery, safety pharmacology, cardiotoxicity testing, and regenerative medicine.

Advanced human cardiac models are being used more often in disease modeling, drug discovery, safety pharmacology, and regenerative medicine. As their use expands, researchers need more physiologically relevant and reproducible data across experiments, laboratories, and analytical platforms.

Standardized protocols are particularly important for the development and adoption of New Approach Methodologies. Advanced human cardiac models can provide more relevant insights into human biology than conventional two-dimensional cultures, but differences in tissue generation methods, culture conditions, and functional assessment approaches can make results difficult to compare across studies. Greater standardization can improve reproducibility and support wider use across academia, industry, and regulatory settings.

Optics11 Life has entered a strategic partnership with Axol Bioscience to support the development and broader adoption of physiologically relevant human cardiac models. The collaboration combines Axol Bioscience’s expertise in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes with the Cuore platform from Optics11 Life, which enables electrical stimulation and quantitative measurement of contractile function in three-dimensional engineered cardiac tissues.

Standardized Workflow

A central outcome of the partnership is the release of a standardized and validated protocol for generating and functionally assessing engineered cardiac tissues using axoCells™ human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and the Cuore platform.

• Tissue preparation
• Culture
• Electrical stimulation
• Contractility assessment

According to the companies, the workflow is designed to reduce variation in how cardiac tissues are generated and analyzed, improving consistency between experiments and supporting more reliable comparison of results.

The approach is intended to help researchers connect cellular and molecular observations with tissue-level functional outcomes, including:

• Contractile force
• Tissue maturation
• Electrical pacing response
• Changes following treatment

Research Applications

The collaboration is expected to support work in:

• Cardiovascular disease modeling
• Drug discovery
• Safety pharmacology
• Cardiotoxicity testing
• Regenerative medicine

“We’re excited about this partnership and the opportunity to apply our iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes in a 3D engineered heart tissue (EHT) model. This approach enables more mature functional responses, including the positive inotropic response to isoprenaline, an effect that is often difficult to reproduce in conventional 2D assays. We’re also enthusiastic about the Cuore system’s multi-well format, which combines the advantages of 3D tissue models with the throughput needed for scalable in vitro studies”, said Jamie Bhagwan, Scientific Group Leader, Axol Bioscience.

“We’re excited about our partnership with Axol Bioscience and the opportunity to combine their high-quality iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes with Optics11 life’s Cuore platform. By bringing together Axol’s well-characterized cells, Cuore’s highly sensitive and high-resolution functional readouts, and a ready-to-use protocol, we can make the transition to 3D cardiac models faster and more accessible. Customers can generate reproducible, high-quality data and capture subtle functional responses in engineered heart tissue that may be missed with conventional approaches, without having to spend significant time and resources developing and optimizing their own 3D model. This ready-to-use workflow can accelerate onboarding, shorten the path from cells to meaningful drug data, and help researchers adopt advanced 3D cardiac models with greater confidence”, said Svetlana Pasteuning, Business Development Lead, Optics11 Life.

Through the partnership, Axol Bioscience and Optics11 Life are working to make advanced cardiac tissue models more reproducible, accessible, and practical for wider use in preclinical research and drug development.

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