InSimili wins SLAS Ignite Award

“At InSimili, we recreate the complexity of the human body in vitro, bridging the gap between the lab and the patient.” This is how Enrico Grassilli, CEO of InSimili Srl, describes the innovative spin-off from the University of Bologna, which outperformed seven competitors showcasing their platforms on Day 1 and Day 2 at SLAS 2025 in San Diego.

The company’s Oxygen Control Plates promise to revolutionise cancer research in particular. For the first time, they make it possible to precisely and reproducibly simulate the hypoxic conditions of just 5% oxygen saturation that prevail in solid tumours and hypoxic tissues. The acidic pH level and the glucose concentration in the tumour microenvironment can also be adjusted in the wells of the patented Oxygen Control Plates, which are coated with an enzyme-containing hydrogel at the bottom of each well, allowing testing of multiple oxygen levels at once. This enables drug screening, for example with human tumour organoids, as well as preclinical toxicity and efficacy studies in precisely the chemical environment that prevails in tumours and in the tumour stroma.  “InSimili provides the most precisely accurate chemical microenvironment in a standard dish,” stressed Grassilli.

It was no coincidence that InSimili’s presentation on the first day of the SLAS 2025 International conference was entitled ‘A new paradigm for drug development’. The company has already provided proof of concept for the technology, which can be used in high-throughput applications: “We tested our model with iniparib, a cancer drug that failed in clinical trials in 2013. By recreating the hypoxic niche, we confirmed the reduced efficacy of the PARP1 inhibitor iniparib (Sanofi-Aventis) on triple-negative breast cancer cells”, Grassilli told European Biotechnology.

InSimili’s ultimate goal is to de-risk preclinical development, and reduce the number of animal tests that do not reflect the chemical conditions in tissue and human physiology. According to Grassilli’s team, the cost-effective technology, which targets a double-digit billion US dollar market with the sale of plates and assay kits as well as contract research and engineering for custom projects, will allow the discovery of overlooked candidates and repurposing of off-patent drugs.

InSimili’s OxygenControl plates have already generated strong market interest. The company has six biopharma clients and is carrying out 15 pilot projects with CROs and research groups.

Together with the Ignite Award, SLAS also presented the New Product Award (NPA) to three companies: N6 Tec Inc for iconPCR, last year‘s Ignite Award winner in Europe Semarion Ltd for SemaCyte microcarriers, and Portal Biosciences Inc for its Galaxy platform.

More on the NPA later and in the March issue of European Biotechnology (to receive a sample copy, please click here), in which interested companies can present their technology as part of a focus on laboratory automation. Interested? Please contact us at marketing@biocom.de.

European Biotechnology is the official media partner of SLAS in Europe.

Watch out! Deadline

The application deadline for the SLAS Europe (20–22 May 2025, Hamburg, Germany) Ignite and New Product Award is approaching. Under the Innovation AveNEW for Startups programme, automation specialists can get access to a global life sciences research community with the power to recommend or purchase new technology through the SLAS newsletter sent out to all  SLAS members. Additionally, an AveNEW booth in Hamburg secures networking to more than 1,000 prospective customers. Selected companies will receive a complimentary exhibition kiosk, exclusive visibility opportunities while on site, waived conference registration fees, travel, hotel accommodations and more. Applications are due Monday, 24 February 2025.