Accelerate Predictive Drug Discovery with Scalable 3D Human Functional Models

The global pharmaceutical industry is at a critical inflection point. While the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 has cleared the path for Non-Animal Models (NAMs), the transition from legacy animal testing to human-relevant data remains hindered by a significant “scalability bottleneck.” This webinar will examine how the integration of high-throughput stimulation, automated recording and standardized 3D human biology is finally providing the predictive power, industrial scale and reproducibility needed to move NAMs from benchtop innovation to regulatory implementation.

For years, researchers have faced a difficult compromise: accept the low-throughput limitations of complex 3D tissues or settle for the oversimplified, non-predictive data of 2D cell cultures. While boutique “organ-on-a-chip” models show promise, they often lack the reproducibility and throughput required for high-stakes decision-making in safety pharmacology and toxicology. To bridge this gap, the featured speaker will introduce a unified ecosystem approach that pairs assay-ready cells with automated hardware and quantitative analysis engines.

This session will explore real-world applications in neuromuscular, skeletal and cardiac research. The speaker will focus on how precision optogenetic control, combined with automated force and fluorescence readouts, is enabling the development of functionally mature 3D models for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and neurotoxin potency testing. By demonstrating how these platforms can replace ethically and scientifically problematic legacy standards, such as the mouse lethality bioassay, this session provides a roadmap for researchers looking to modernize their discovery and drug development pipelines.

Furthermore, the webinar will offer an exclusive first look at the next generation of 96-well functional platforms. These systems are designed to scale contractile force and electrophysiology endpoints without sacrificing data fidelity, offering a “step-function” progress in data density and statistical significance.

Register for this webinar to learn how laboratories can scale 3D human-functional models to drive more predictive drug discovery benefits in the new era of drug discovery.

Speaker

Nicholas Geisse, PhD, CEO, Curi Bio

Dr. Nicholas Geisse is the CEO of Curi Bio, where he leads the mission to democratize advanced functional biology. He holds a PhD in Pharmacology from Cambridge University and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cardiac Cell and Tissue Engineering at Harvard University. Dr. Geisse is a recognized expert in 3D human tissue models, transitioning them from boutique research tools into standardized, scalable platforms. Prior to Curi Bio, he held senior leadership roles in scientific instrumentation and software, focusing on the intersection of engineering and life sciences to solve the biological bottleneck in drug development. He is the primary architect of Gold Standard human-functional data and currently serves as a pivotal voice in the industry’s shift toward regulatory-grade Non-Animal Models (NAMs).

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