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VR-grant to Bioengineering human oral tissues and disease models team

18 November 2025

The Bioengineering human oral tissues and disease models team receives a VR-3R grant. The grant for the development of methods to replace, reduce and refine animal experiments.

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The team has been awarded a VR-3R grant to develop bioengineered human trigeminal ganglia as an advanced platform for studying pain. Pain research is among the more ethically challenging areas of biomedicine, and current animal models, while widely used, often struggle to reflect patient-specific biology or support efficient discovery of new treatments. This gap is particularly evident in disorders involving the trigeminal ganglia, the key sensory hubs of the face and central players in extremely debilitating conditions such as migraine and trigeminal neuralgia, which remain difficult to treat.

The funded project will combine materials development, stem cell technology, and biofabrication to generate human bioengineered trigeminal ganglia with in vivo-like cellular diversity. These 3D tissues will then be incorporated into an all-human organ-on-a-chip system to model interactions between the trigeminal ganglia and their target tissues. In addition, the team will explore the use of 3D-printed ganglia constructs as a platform for early-stage drug testing.

By developing more physiologically relevant human models, this initiative aims to complement and reduce reliance on animal studies while improving the translational value of pain research. The project also lays the groundwork for future efforts to model additional sensory pathways, strengthening the foundation for more targeted and effective pain therapies.

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