Veille sur le HCS le HCA et la biologie en général
Organoids are three-dimensional structures made of cells, which can be derived from stem cells to mimic the structure and function of real organs. They are useful tools for studying human development, disease modeling, drug screening, and personalized medicine. Recent advancements in organoid research have focused on improving their complexity and Read more…
In this presentation, Nathalie MAUBON (CEO HCS Pharma), give an overview of drugs discovery, from pre-19th century are, where trials are done on humans, to nowadays where clinical trials are safer but with a dramatic rate of failure. She explains what are the “target base screening” and the “phenotypic screening Read more…
The skin microbiota refers to the microorganisms living on the skin, on its surface, but also more in depth. On 1 cm2 of human skin, up to a billion microorganisms are residing, including bacteria, fungi, mites, and viruses. Skin microbiota contributes to maintain a healthy cutaneous barrier. Skin and microorganisms Read more…
The current hiPSC-derived models are adapted to reproduce diseases of genetic origin in two dimensions and have allowed in recent years to model diseases by using hepatocyte-like-cells (HCL) such as: Alpha1-antitrypsin (A1AT) deficiency (Tafaleng et al., 2015) Familial transthyretin-related amyloidosis (ATTR) (Isono et al., 2014) Glycogen storage deficiency (Satoh et Read more…
Human skin is largely composed of a collagen-rich connective tissue, which provides structural and functional support. This connective tissue which is the dermal extracellular matrix (ECM) produced, organized, and maintained by dermal fibroblasts and confers strength and resiliency to skin. In young skin, fibroblasts produce and adhere to the dermal Read more…
Yesterday, the 11th of April, was the World Parkinson’s Day. On this occasion, HCS pharma would like to inform you about this disease and its work for new drug discovery. What is Parkinson’s disease? It is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease. It is attributed to a Read more…
Increased ExtraCellular Matrix (ECM) stiffness is a common process in many cancers (Pickup et al, 2014). This process influences the behaviour of cancer cells in the tumour microenvironment. The accumulation of ECM in the stroma is mainly due to a high production of ECM molecules by TGF-β(Transforming Growth Factor-beta) -stimulated Read more…
Historically, cancer has been described as originating from modified cells, because of mutations impacting their growth, their differentiation and their way (not) to die. Now, it is widely acknowledged that the microenvironment surrounding these cells is involved in cancer initiation and progression. As explained in the article by Nia Munn Read more…
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is the non-cellular component of tissue. Its is mainly composed of structural and adhesion molecules, such as hyaluronic acid, collagene, proteoglycans, fibronectin, elastin, although its specific composition and structure vary between different tissues. It is a dynamic structure, which is involved not only in the cell Read more…
Primary keratinocytes were stained to reveal nuclei in blue, cellular keratin 14 in green and actin filaments in red. This image has been taken with the fluorescence microscope from Molecular Devices. See our brochure to discover our services in dermocosmetology. For more information about our models, please feel free to Read more…
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an integral component of all organs and plays a pivotal role in tissue homeostasis and repair. ECM actively supports and maintains the dynamic interplay between tissue compartments as well as embedded resident and recruited inflammatory cells in response to pathologic stimuli. The inflammation process involves Read more…
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a non-cellular component of tissues and organs. It is mainly composed of structural elements (proteoglycans collagens, elastin) and cell adhesion proteins such as fibronectin and laminins. The ECM forms a complex structure with physical properties (elasticity, tensile and compression strength), which provides physical support for Read more…
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a linear polymer in which a simple disaccharide is repeated thousands of time, thereby creating a huge hydrophilic molecule that confers a large volume of hydration and contributes to the turgor and flexibility of healthy skin. HA is dynamically produced by most skin cells, not only Read more…
High Throughput Screening (HTS) has been developed in the 80s, in the context of the automation and miniaturization of techniques for biological assays. Thanks to multiwell plates (96, 384, 1536, or 3456 wells) handled on a platform with robotic arms and automated pipetting systems, it allows to test hundreds of Read more…
It is a pleasure for us to participate in the next Organ-on-chip (OoC) event, which will take place in IPGG, Paris next month (23-24th February). We will contribute threefold: as a grateful sponsor of the event! As such, we will have a stand to present our product BIOMIMESYS and how Read more…
Skin redness is a sign of cutaneous inflammation which can lead to major skin disorders, such as dermatitis (eczema), which affects 10% of the population and by this way, represents the most common skin disease. The mechanism of skin inflammation is complex and still not fully clarified. When the skin Read more…
With 54% of the world population living in urban areas, the number of people exposed to pollutants is still increasing. Moreover, pollution has become perceptible in many cities. Almost 80% of urban areas have a level of pollutants greater than the recommended levels of the World Health Organization. Directly in Read more…
The lung is a vital organ which allows gas exchanges between the external environment and the body. These gas exchanges take place in alveoli, formed by 2 cell types : pneumocytes I and II (Martinez et al., 2017). The alveolar wall is supported by a basal membrane mainly composed of collagen Read more…
In 2020, Nia et al. published in the journal Science a review entitled ‘Physical traits of cancer‘. In this article, the authors proposed 4 distinct physical traits of cancer linked to the biomechanical abnormalities observed in tumoral tissues : an enhanced solid stress (compression and tension), i.e. the mechanical forces Read more…
2D cell culture has been used for more than 100 years now, to keep cells outside of their original organism and to use them for different purposes. It is still widely used in research and early steps of the drug discovery process, and has allowed a bunch of discoveries so Read more…
As you might know, October is the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to raise awareness about the impact of breast cancer. Research is the key tool to fight this disease and we are very happy to collaborate with amazing research teams in this fight. Since last year, our Read more…
Earlier this month, the European parliament has voted for accelerating the limitation (end?) of animal testing for research, regulatory and education purposes. As a reminder, the testing ban on finished cosmetic products applies since 11 September 2004 and the testing ban on ingredients (or combination of ingredients) applies since 11 Read more…
In the brain, we have about 100 billion of neurons but they represent only 10 to 50% of the total cells (von Bartheld et al., 2016). Indeed, glial cells, including astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia are also essential to the physiological functions of the brain. Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is the secondary Read more…