00:00It's a day in the lab like any other for Monika Mukhova.
00:04She's a postdoc researcher at the Centre of Polymer Systems at Tomáš Batja University in Czechia.
00:11The work she and her team are doing here could transform how new medicines are tested.
00:16Mukhova and her colleagues are developing a laboratory-grown model of the human small intestine,
00:21an innovation that could help reduce the need for animal testing in drug development.
00:26This model has two parts.
00:32We put on this collagen to take place and the second part is the stem.
00:41As you can see at the bottom of the stem, there are microscopic willy,
00:47the tiny structure that copies the small intestine.
00:55But replacing animal testing is not easy.
00:59The intestine is one of the most complex organs in the human body,
01:03which is why researchers have relied on animals for decades.
01:06The team at Tomáš Batja University hopes to change that.
01:12As much as I know there is no model which covers the complexity of the intestine.
01:20We don't have a really good model.
01:24If we will be successful to make a model which will be simple for the preparation,
01:32it will be possible to prepare it in the laboratories without necessity to have some advanced and expensive devices for
01:44the preparation,
01:46and providing as much complexity as possible.
01:51To recreate the human intestine in the lab, scientists first need to create the right conditions for the cells to
01:57grow.
01:59They start with a gel made of different biopolymers, materials that are designed to replicate the conditions inside the human
02:06body.
02:06But forming the gel is a complex process.
02:10Its structure has to resemble the inner lining of the intestine.
02:14To achieve this, researchers use 3D printed molds that press tiny patterns into the material.
02:20These microscopic ridges and grooves replicate the surface found inside the human intestine.
02:27For example, a pharmacocompany or other laboratories can use this model for different research areas.
02:38For example, from the pharmacokinetics, cytotoxicity or through the interaction of the immune cells with the intestine cells
02:49or communication of the microbiome through the microbiome through the microbiome into the immune cells.
02:56The final aim is to provide as complex a model as possible of the human intestine.
03:05And on the way to reach this final goal, to better understand the interactions between the materials and the chemistry
03:15of materials
03:15and the cells and the behaviour of this very complicated and complex system.
03:21For patients, this could mean more reliable treatments that have been tested on systems that closely resemble the human body.
03:29If successful, the research could offer a more accurate and ethical way to develop new medicines, reducing the need for
03:37animal testing.
03:39But for now, the work continues.
03:41Back in the lab, Monica Mukhova and her team are refining the model,
03:47gradually making it resemble more closely the complexity of the human body.
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