HKUMedXelerate 2025 Project Showcase: Explore Cutting-Edge Organoid Platforms Revolutionizing Precision Medicine

Welcome back to our HKUMedXelerate 2025 Top 10 series, spotlighting the projects at the forefront of transforming healthcare through groundbreaking research and commercialization.

This edition dives into Organoid and Bioprinting Platforms for Precision Medicine—two advanced technologies harnessing patient-derived 3D models to accelerate drug discovery, personalize treatments, and replace animal testing. Ideal for oncology, respiratory diseases, and beyond, these platforms promise faster, more accurate insights into disease mechanisms and therapies.

1. Scalable Patient-Derived Organoid Platform: Next-Generation Solutions for Drug Discovery and Precision Medicine

Led by Prof. Michael Chi Wai CHAN, this platform scales patient-derived organoids from routine clinical samples in oncology, respiratory diseases, and infectious threats. It preserves patients’ genetics and tissue architecture without reprogramming, enabling histopathology for models of asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, and lung cancer. Automation at the HKSTP Cell Processing Facility handles culturing with digital quality control, while upgrades with Hitachi and RorzeLS will extend to full workflows. Integrated reports cover drug response, toxicity, genomics, and prognostic Organoid Forming Potential, with biobanking for repeat studies.

Collaborating with the HKU Teaching Hospital network and planning a Joint Organoid Facility with Imperial College London for global harmonization, the team has secured paid pilots and the Outstanding Project Award at the 2025 Shanghai-HK Project Innovation Awards.

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2. Liver-in-Cube: New Generation of Bionic Organ

Led by Prof. Kwan MAN, Organ-in-Cube is the world’s first 3D-bioprinted biomimetic platform recapitulating the tumor microenvironment with patented 3D/4D bioprinting of immune profiles, micro-circulation networks, and patient-derived bio-inks. AI-driven, it creates individualized models mirroring tumor characteristics like tissue stiffness for precise evaluation of immunotherapies (ICIs, CAR-T), gene therapies, and ADCs.

Outperforming traditional organoids and organ-on-chips, it assesses drug responsiveness and side effects in three weeks for clinicians, enhances preclinical predictions for pharma, and offers ready-to-use kits for researchers—aligning with regulatory shifts to human-derived models.

Backed by a multidisciplinary team with clinical, bioengineering, and AI expertise, plus partners in medicine and biopharma, it has won a Gold Medal at the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, ASGH Medtech Hackathon awards, and seed funding from TSSSU and Incu-bio, targeting $10M initial funding and 20% annual growth.

Learn more: Scan QR or click HERE to visit 

These innovations position Hong Kong as a leader in precision oncology and drug development, bridging academia, industry, and clinics for real-world impact. Watch for the next email on neurological breakthroughs!