# Co-culture cassette for anaerobes and primary human intestinal epithelium

> **NIH NIH R44** · ALTIS BIOSYSTEMS, INC. · 2020 · $745,742

## Abstract

Project Summary
 The human colon is a remarkable organ, playing critical roles in drug uptake and
metabolism as well as harboring the 100 trillion microbial cells of the microbiome, which itself
has multiple impacts on human health. For these reasons, there is a widespread need in
academia and the biotechnology marketplace for in vitro studies of human colon physiology
and the interaction between colon tissue and the anaerobic bacteria of the microbiome. To meet
this need, Altis Biosystems, Inc., an early stage biotechnology company, has collaborated with
scientists at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill to develop a new platform
for cell culture to co-culture normal, human colonic epithelial cells with anaerobic microbiota,
named the Self-sustaining Intestinal Microbiome Platform (SIMPle). SIMPle is an easy-to-use
and intuitive platform to replicate the steep oxygen gradient across the in vivo colonic
epithelium, thus create the appropriate environment required for anaerobes while maintaining
viable, healthy epithelial tissue. We have finished the SBIR Phase I program by designing,
prototyping, validating the SIMPLe that fits a standard 12-well plate (SIMPle12). The generation
of a steep O2 gradient was confirmed, and its impact on cells was characterized. The co-culture
of facultative anaerobes with human colonic epithelium in SIMPle12 platforms was validated.
All proposed milestones in the Phase I SBIR were accomplished, thus providing a solid
foundation for this Phase II SBIR application. The focus of this Phase II proposal is to scale up
SIMPLe platform to a 96-well format (SIMPle96) to meet the market needs for screening assays.
The SIMPle96 platform will be prototyped and validated, and human colonic epithelium and
co-culture with obligate anaerobes will be characterized. Use SIMPle96 platform for screening
probiotics will be demonstrated. An external validation of the platform will be performed to
demonstrate its utility in microbe-intestinal assays. The SIMPle co-culture platforms are
expected to revolutionize microbiome research by enabling the function of host-microbe
interactions to be interrogated.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10018032
- **Project number:** 5R44DK117763-03
- **Recipient organization:** ALTIS BIOSYSTEMS, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Christopher Eldridge Sims
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $745,742
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-21 → 2021-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10018032

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10018032, Co-culture cassette for anaerobes and primary human intestinal epithelium (5R44DK117763-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10018032. Licensed CC0.

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