ICT2025 - lUTOX 17th International Congress of Toxicology

Date	Time	Local Time	Room	Forum	Session	Role	Topic
2025-10-17	14:00-14:10	2025-10-17,14:00-14:10	Room A - Guojin Hall	Symposium Program （Session）	Young Scientist Lecture 03：Artificial Intelligence Toxicology and New Technologies and Methods	Speaker	Engineer advanced Microphysiological Systems for Drug Toxicology Emerging biomedicines often feature high specificity and complex mechanisms of action, which increasingly expose the limitations of traditional animal models in predicting pharmacological efficacy and toxicology. In vitro microphysiological systems—represented by organoids and organ-on-a-chip platforms, can partially recapitulate organ architecture, physiology, and function in vitro, marking a paradigm shift for drug development and safety evaluation. Despite their great promise, current models still face substantial limitations with low degree of physiological relevance. Integrating multidisciplinary technologies to build more biomimetic, standardized, and scalable microphysiological models is a key challenge for the future of the field. The Human Organ Physiology and Pathology Emulation System (HOPE) is a national scientific infrastructure led by the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Guided by the concept of fabricating organ modules, assembling physiological systems, and mimicking human functions, it assembles in vitro organ modules to simulate various human physiological and pathological functions, aiming to provide a standardized and open platform for disease mechanism studies, drug evaluation, and regenerative medicine. The HOPE team has made a series of advances in engineering advanced microphysiological system. Building on the fundamental principles of embryonic development and organogenesis, combined with microenvironmental analysis, we further integrated chip fabrication, design, and dynamic culture to recapitulate the developmental trajectories and microenvironments of organ tissues. This approach enabled the construction of highly biomimetic in vitro models using pluripotent stem cells, including but not limited to heart, liver, intestine, kidney, artificial embryo, and blood–brain barrier, that contain functional cell types to model key biological processes in development and disease. In addressing the needs from preclinical drug evaluation, we aim to overcome the predictive bottlenecks of traditional toxicology assessment. Leveraging the pathophysiological relevance and high-throughput capabilities of our advanced microphysiological systems, we strive to enhance the accuracy of efficacy and toxicity evaluation, providing innovative technological solutions to replace animal experiments.

Emerging biomedicines often feature high specificity and complex mechanisms of action, which increasingly expose the limitations of traditional animal models in predicting pharmacological efficacy and toxicology. In vitro microphysiological systems—represented by organoids and organ-on-a-chip platforms, can partially recapitulate organ architecture, physiology, and function in vitro, marking a paradigm shift for drug development and safety evaluation. Despite their great promise, current models still face substantial limitations with low degree of physiological relevance. Integrating multidisciplinary technologies to build more biomimetic, standardized, and scalable microphysiological models is a key challenge for the future of the field.

The Human Organ Physiology and Pathology Emulation System (HOPE) is a national scientific infrastructure led by the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Guided by the concept of fabricating organ modules, assembling physiological systems, and mimicking human functions, it assembles in vitro organ modules to simulate various human physiological and pathological functions, aiming to provide a standardized and open platform for disease mechanism studies, drug evaluation, and regenerative medicine. The HOPE team has made a series of advances in engineering advanced microphysiological system.

Building on the fundamental principles of embryonic development and organogenesis, combined with microenvironmental analysis, we further integrated chip fabrication, design, and dynamic culture to recapitulate the developmental trajectories and microenvironments of organ tissues. This approach enabled the construction of highly biomimetic in vitro models using pluripotent stem cells, including but not limited to heart, liver, intestine, kidney, artificial embryo, and blood–brain barrier, that contain functional cell types to model key biological processes in development and disease.

In addressing the needs from preclinical drug evaluation, we aim to overcome the predictive bottlenecks of traditional toxicology assessment. Leveraging the pathophysiological relevance and high-throughput capabilities of our advanced microphysiological systems, we strive to enhance the accuracy of efficacy and toxicity evaluation, providing innovative technological solutions to replace animal experiments.