Hyposkin® human skin models

Live immune response to subcutaneous injection

The HypoSkin® live human skin model

First-in-human data generation for subcutaneous injections

Genoskin

HypoSkin® human skin models currently offer the closest alternative to directly injecting a compound in an actual person’s skin. They are designed to help drug and vaccine developers accelerate the selection of viable drug candidates. Thanks to a unique technology, our models facilitate the acquisition of relevant and accurate first-in-human data when it comes to injection site reactions, immunology or metabolism. Here is an overview of the HypoSkin® benefits:

Immunocompetent

HypoSkin® models have the features and functionalities of in vivo human skin, with all skin and immune cells, to generate predictive human data.

Standardized

Model generation is standardized to ensure reproducible testing on real, live human epidermis, dermis and adipose tissue

Injection

The HypoSkin® model is the only human skin model on the market to study live response to subcutaneous and intradermal injections.

Platform

HypoSkin® is suitable for a broad range of applications, from injection site reactions over medical devices to studying bolus injections.

Human immune response to your drug

A full week of testing opportunities

Due to the current lack of research tools to study response to injections in humans, the development of injectable therapeutics remains challenging, with animal testing as the only option. Genoskin’s HypoSkin® model is the first human skin study platform in the world that allows subcutaneous and intradermal injection in humans without harming either humans or animals. HypoSkin® models provide crucial information on the response of real, live human skin and immune cells to drugs, vaccines and medical devices. The skin is bio-stabilized thanks to our patented technology, which allows keeping real human skin alive for 7 days. This approach helps us provide a highly relevant and reliable solution to pharmaceutical, biotech, cosmetic and chemical companies to test their compounds on and in real human skin for an entire week.

The HypoSkin® project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 816289 (SME Instrument).

Viability data

Study human immune cell response to derisk drug development

Live human immune cells in their native environment

Genoskin
Innate immune response versus adaptative immune response - HypoSkin is suitable for subcutaneous injection and can be used for vaccine efficacy and safety testing

Human skin provides an exceptional model for studying the responses of structural cells, such as melanocytes, keratinocytes, and sebaceous glands, to various formulations. Real human skin also possesses an extraordinary diversity of immune cells that are involved in drug-induced immunotoxicity (Tokura et al., 2021 & Kabashima et al., 2019). The immune cells we find in the skin (resident memory CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes, dendritic cell subsets, innate lymphoid cells, natural killer cells, macrophages, mast cells, some B cells and others… ) are also present in other human organs (Nguyen et al., 2019). In real skin, immune and structural cells constantly interact together to form a true ecosystem, which is key to apprehending human immunological response to drugs and formulations prior to clinical trials.

Discover our Toxicity Services

Assess Immunotoxicity and Local Tolerance of your injectable compound

HypoSkin®, a flexible study platform for first-in-human data

Explore a variety of administration routes

The HypoSkin® model is composed of live human epidermis, dermis and hypodermis. It is the first model on the market that allows for research on subcutaneous injection in human skin. It is also suitable for studies of different types of biologics and small molecule drugs using the other routes of administration such as:

Transdermal application for tolerance testing on HypoSkin®, an ex vivo human skin model

Transdermal application

Intra dermal or Subcutaneous injection in an ex vivo human skin model with a 7 days experimental window

ID or SQ injection or insertion

Hyposkin is an ex vivo human skin model suitable for drug delivery system testing. It allows a variety of route of administration such as implantation, infusion, injection

Infusion

A wide range of applications

Explore all the possibilities of immunocompetent and injectable human skin

Genoskin

The HypoSkin® model is suitable for a wide range of applications, including first-in-human efficacy and toxicity studies, prior to clinical trials. The model allows for in-depth immunological studies that can provide a window to the immune response of the human body after drug or vaccine administration. Below, you’ll find some examples of the types of studies you can conduct with the HypoSkin® model.

Bolus injection

Bolus injection

Medical device on HypoSkin

Medical device testing

Dermal filler

Dermal filler characterization

Bolus
Image of subcutaneous bolus injection of 100µL of contrast agent in the HypoSkin® model at D1. The image illustrates the validity of the HypoSkin® model in terms of homogeneous diffusion, similar to what would happen in a human test person. Images were acquired in collaboration with Laurent Malaquin – EliA Group – LAAS CNRS & Paul Duru – Toulouse Institute of Fluid Mechanics

Discover our VaxSkin® Platform

Human immunological insights for vaccine candidate selection

Scientific publications using HypoSkin®

See how others use the HypoSkin® model to generate results

Genoskin

August 2022 - Immortalized human myoblast cell lines for the delivery of therapeutic proteins using encapsulated cell technology

November 2021 - A suspended layer additive manufacturing approach to the bioprinting of tri-layered skin equivalents

July 2021 - Poster - Mitigation of Injection Site Reactions after Subcutaneous Administration of Dalcinonacog Alfa (DalcA) in Hemophilia B Using Preclinical Models

July 2021 - Poster - Assessing subcutaneous injection site reactions by leveraging immunocompetent human skin and artificial intelligence

December 2020 - Standalone or combinatorial phenylbutyrate therapy shows excellent antiviral activity and mimics CREB3 silencing

August 2019 - Near-infrared light activable hydrogels for metformin delivery

  • Near-infrared light activable hydrogels for metformin delivery
    • Published in Nanoscale – 2019 Aug 29;11(34):15810-15820
      • Li Chengnan, Quentin Pagneux, Anna Voronova, Alexandre Barras, Amar Abderrahmani, Valérie Plaisance, Valerie Pawlowski, Nathalie Hennuyer, Bart Staels, Lea Rosselle, Nadia Skandrani, Musen Li, Rabah Boukherroub, Sabine Szunerits

December 2018 - Poster - A fully functional ex vivo human skin model to study human skin microbiome

January 2018 - Poster - Evaluation of local inflammatory reactions following subcutaneous injection of a pro-inflammatory cocktail in a fully human ex vivo skin model

Not sure if HypoSkin® is the model you need?

Don’t hesitate to get in touch to explain your project. Our experts are here to help you out.