# Development of the NephroPlate: A high-throughput kidney-on-a-chip platform for identifying chronic kidney disease therapies

> **NIH NIH R43** · MIMETAS US, INC. · 2020 · $236,779

## Abstract

Project Summary
With chronic kidney disease (CKD) on the rise, it is imperative that we identify better treatment strategies to
avoid a healthcare crisis. Current therapeutic interventions address patient symptoms rather than the underlying
cause and thereby do not substantially slow disease progression. The development of kidney specific drugs has
been hampered by the lack of in vitro kidney models used in the drug development pipeline. Thus, an in vitro
model which accurately recapitulates kidney function in the presence and absence of disease-specific stressors
is urgently needed to identify targeted CKD interventions. This Phase I SBIR is a collaborative effort between
MIMETAS and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles/University of Southern California (CHLA/USC) which will focus
on addressing the market need for a 3D kidney-on-a-chip platform, called the NephroPlate for use in drug
discovery. The NephroPlate will enable the evaluation of kidney function in response to serum from patients with
CKD in all primary cell types (podocytes, glomerular endothelial cells, renal proximal tubule epithelial cells, non-
glomerular endothelial cells). We will characterize the viability, phenotype, and function (glomerular filtration and
proximal tubule reabsorption) in both male and female-derived co-cultures by measuring the passage of TRITC-
albumin and fluorescent glucose (2-NDBG) within the microfluidic system. We will also validate the drug
screening compatibility of the NephroPlate, using standard of care treatments. Resultant filtrate will be evaluated
by proteomics. This Phase I SBIR study will demonstrate the feasibility of using the OrganoPlate to support the
function of primary kidney cells and mimic both glomerular and proximal tubular function in a 3D co-culture
platform. Specifically, this work will provide a foundation for Phase II SBIR and follow on research and
development to optimize a platform for novel therapy identification in CKD drug discovery groups.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10139645
- **Project number:** 1R43DK127659-01
- **Recipient organization:** MIMETAS US, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Kristin M Bircsak
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $236,779
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-28 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10139645

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10139645, Development of the NephroPlate: A high-throughput kidney-on-a-chip platform for identifying chronic kidney disease therapies (1R43DK127659-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10139645. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*