High-throughput 3D human heart tissue to screen drug safety
Official title: High-throughput Multimodal Functional Phenotypic Assay for Human Cardiotoxicity Screening
Funded at Johns Hopkins University · NIH-11450811 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A Johns Hopkins team is creating a high-throughput, 3D human heart tissue model to test drug safety on human heart cells.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Johns Hopkins University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Baltimore, United States) |
| Project start | July 15, 2026 |
| Project end | May 31, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $735,459 |
| NIH project number | 1R01HL179347-01A1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11450811 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Not applicable to a specific patient population; this is a preclinical platform using human heart cells.
✕Less likely to help
No direct patient participation currently required; the work is preclinical.
What this research studies
Researchers will build 3D engineered heart tissues from patient-derived heart cells and measure both how strongly they beat and how their electrical signals behave. Using AI-guided techniques, they will produce chamber-specific heart cells and test many drugs quickly to identify dangerous effects early. This approach aims to make preclinical safety testing more human-relevant, scalable, and interpretable.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the project could improve early detection of drug-induced heart safety issues, potentially reducing late-stage failures and speeding safer medicines to patients.
How similar studies have gone: Previous 2D hiPSC-CM models have informed safety testing, but this project advances to 3D tissues with multimodal readouts.
Where this research is happening
-
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kim, Deok-Ho — Johns Hopkins University
- Study coordinator: Kim, Deok-Ho
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.