HeartBeat.bio, Cubase Bio Partner on Spatial Profiling for Cardiovascular Drug Discovery

Editor’s Take: Despite significant advancements in cardiovascular research, the companies say, development of new therapies for heart failure is challenging.

Heartbeat.bio, developing a human cardiac organoid-based discovery platform, and Cubase Bio, which develops true 3D spatial transcriptomics technologies, are partnering.

Their strategic research collaboration aims to advance spatial profiling of human cardiac organoids for cardiovascular drug discovery.

HeartBeat.bio and Cubase Funding

The HeartBeat.bio–Cubase Bio partnership received approximately €1 million (US$1.16 million) from the prestigious Eurostars program for this joint project. “Fibrosis Analysis in Cardioids via Transcriptomic Spatial-Mapping in 3D,” or FACTS-3D, is the project’s name.

HeartBeat.bio CEO Michael Krebs said FACTS-3D brings together two “highly complementary technologies.”

The goal is to develop a scalable approach for analyzing the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying myocardial fibrosis.

Why Cardiovascular Therapies are Important

The companies say that developing new therapies for heart failure remains a challenge, despite advances in cardiovascular research.

Heart failure affects more than 64 million people worldwide. That number alone makes it a major global health burden.

“For HeartBeat.bio, this collaboration represents an important step toward using cardioids not [just] for phenotypic drug discovery,” Krebs said. “Also, to uncover and validate novel mechanisms and targets for heart failure, particularly in myocardial fibrosis and cardiac remodeling.”

Malte Kühnemund, CEO of Cubase Bio, agreed.

“Cardiac biology is a perfect example of why 3D spatial context matters so much,” Kühnemund said. “[It’s] central to how a heart chamber is built, what happens when fibrosis occurs, and how the heart remodels itself. Our technology captures exactly that kind of complexity in full 3D. It cannot be assessed by sectioning, and 3D imaging hardware lacks the throughput. This makes our 3D spatial transcriptomics technology a natural fit for high-throughput cardiac drug screening. HeartBeat.bio is the ideal partner to translate our 3D spatial technology into actionable insights for complex cardiovascular disease.”

At the national level, Vinnova—Sweden’s Innovation Agency—and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency are providing more funding. Additional co-funding comes from the European Union, through Horizon Europe.