Stemnovate which is advancing ‘organ on chip’ technology has closed its seed investment round with a team of eight angels led by team of o2h ventures, whose co-founder Sunil Shah is joining the board as chairman.Stemnovate specialises in stem cell research, cellular differentiation and microengineering. Its ‘liver on a chip’ technology has exciting potential for pre-clinical hepatotoxicity testing, replicating the microarchitecture and functions of the human liver and taking account of variation in patient’s individual genetic backgrounds.
Mr Shah, who is an MBA from Cambridge University is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded two companies in information technology and life sciences sector o2h ventures involves discovery services and collaboration, seeding drug discovery, academic in-licensing and bio-technology incubation.He said “current models for screening new drugs for liver toxicity are not predictive,there is an urgent need for the reliable screening technology before millions are invested into a clinical trial only to fail due to liver toxicity”.
