ABOUT ECTICA TECHNOLOGIES

Ectica Technologies AG is a Swiss supplier of hydrogel-based tools and materials to the biopharmaceutical and life science industries for applications in drug discovery and bioresearch. Our patented 3DProSeed® technology combines the biological relevance of cell-based assays in hydrogels with the highest workflow integration level in drug discovery. We specialize in the development of in vitro and ex vivo models of the tumor stroma to address advanced questions in cancer biology. In addition to offer our products we also engage in contract development and production of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutions, which can be customised in terms of hydrogel chemistry, product format, usage and branding.

Ectica Technologies is a spin-off company of the ETH Zurich and University Hospital Zurich.  

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3DProSeed® Hydrogel Plate
The tool you need for 3D cell- based assays

Our 3DProSeed well plate  combines the advantages of hydrogel-based cultures with the

simplicity and workflow integration of standard polystyrene cultureware.

Our plate contains pre-assembled synthetic hydrogels, delivered to you hydrated, ready for cell seeding.

Hydrogel-based cultures have never been so

simple to establish.

3DProSeed StromaLine NEW

Our focus on the tumor-stroma interactions

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Our new 3DProSeed ® StromaLine is an attractive collection of pre-developed and well characterized stromal models ideal for tumor-stroma interaction studies.  The ability to build a synthetic model of the stromal microenvironment in a high-content screening-compatible manner enables new discoveries in oncology. Anti-cancer drug screenings can be conducted in the presence of the stromal compartment with minimal adaptation efforts.

Application Highlight
Human neuronal progenitor cells & astrocytes 

If you are interested to culture and co-culture human astrocytes and human neuronal progenitor cells in fully synthetic three-dimensional hydrogels with an unprecedented simplicity and screening compatibility, please click on this page.

Our Manufacturing Services

Ectica Technologies engages in development and production of OEM hydrogel solutions, which can be customised in terms of hydrogel chemistry, product format, usage and branding. Contact us to discuss your needs.

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Ectica Technologies develops and manufactures products used by pharmaceutical and biotech companies as well as cancer research institutes to perform cancer research and drug discovery. Users are primarily focused in Switzerland, UK, EU. However we are more and more working in the United States and Asia.

The products are primarily used in fundamental cancer research and in the early stages of drug discovery, in particular to perform phenotypic screenings.

The 3DProSeed well plate and the 3DProSeed Stromaline are designed to enable the step-by-step development of advanced organotypic co-cultures in imaging plates for lead identification and safety screenings. We promote the use of our technology to develop ex vivo models of the tumor stromal microenvironment, in which tumor cells are subsequently placed. The final objective is to study the interaction between tumor cells in the tumor stroma and the role of the latter in the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs.

One example is the development of a three-dimensional fibroblastic matrix made of healthy or diseased (cancer associated) fibroblasts (CAFs). A CAF matrix is obtained by culturing patient-derived CAFs in the 3DProSeed hydrogels for approximately 10-14 days. Cancer cells, possibly derived from the same patient from which the CAFs are derived, are subsequently added to study the role of the stromal cells on cancer migration, chemoresistance and viability.

Another example is the development of an ex vivo model of the bone marrow vascular niche. In this case bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are co-cultured with bone marrow endothelial cells for approximately 5-10 days. These cells form a network of primordial vessels that are surrounded by endogenous extra-cellular matrix (ECM) proteins. This system can be used to model the bone marrow vascular niche and its role on hematopoietic stem cell maintenance and blood cancer cell survival and chemoresistance.

A critical aspect is the synthetic and animal-free nature of the hydrogel materials used by Ectica Technologies to create the stromal models. This is important in order to avoid carrying over uncontrolled animal-derived proteins from Matrigel and similar Basak Membrane Extract matrices which would make the study of the role of the ECM very hard. Proteins identified in our cultures are secreted by the cells in culture, and this provides a very high level of control over the assay conditions.

Ectica technologies operates as a supplier of tools and technology to the biopharma industry and engages in scientific collaborations to advance specific oncology research projects of interest.

Ectica Technologies is a spin off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and of the University (Hospital) Zurich. Ectica is an alumnus of the Merck Accelerator Program 2017 and received innovation prizes from important governmental agencies and private life science corporations.