Three-dimensional (3D) in vitro culture is now a recognized technique to improve the performance and physiological relevance of immortalized and primary cells. 3D culture also increases proliferation rates in some cell types (e.g. mesenchymal stem cells^[1], osteosarcoma cells^[2], HUVECs^[3], which puts extra demands on nutrient supply and waste removal. This issue can be addressed by the use of bioreactors, which circulate a large quantity of medium over or around the 3D culture and further improve cell proliferation and specific protein expression beyond that seen for static 3D cultures (e.g. dermal fibroblasts^[4], cardiac cells^[5], marrow stromal cells^[6], osteogenic cells^[7].

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It is not uncommon that at a late-stage of drug development (especially during the clinical testing) unforeseen toxicities and/or poor efficacy are observed. This is often, but not only, due to the limitations of the off-target screening used by pharma (the so-called secondary pharmacology). Although still useful for quickly screening a relatively high number of potential off-target hits, these screening studies, often used by pharmaceutical companies, are in the form of a proprietary set of in vitro methods biased and/or tailored for the specific molecule background of the drug candidate. Often, this does not allow evaluation in a clinical context and can contribute to the high rate of drug failures (attrition rate) at a later stage of the drug discovery process. This is a costly “Achilles heel” for the pharmaceutical industry^[1].

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From obesity and Crohn’s disease to cancer, investigations into the microbiota and microbiome are opening up numerous avenues of research. The human microbiota, composed of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, eukaryotic microbes and many different species which occupy the human body^[1], and the study of the associated microbial genomes, are generating increasing numbers of publications.

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