Welcome to COMPS
Human Models. Human Outcomes. Built in Pittsburgh.
Medicine is undergoing a fundamental shift. The FDA no longer requires animal data for investigative new drug (IND) , and the NIH is moving away from funding research built on animal models alone. In their place, a new generation of tools called New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), including human primary and stem cell-derived organoids, microfluidic, engineered microphyiological systems (MPS) using primary and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cells, as well as computational models, including patient digital twins, is becoming the standard for how new therapies are discovered, tested, and validated.
The Computational, Organoid, and Microphysiological Systems Initiative, or COMPS, was established to position Pittsburgh at the forefront of this transition. COMPS is a translational hub designed to accelerate the development, validation, and adoption of human-relevant disease models, drug-testing platforms, and computational tools that improve therapeutic discovery and clinical translation.
The University of Pittsburgh, and UPMC offer a combination of resources found in few other locations: a major health system with the patient populations required to generate patient cohorts for drug discovery, development and clinical trials, as well biobanking tissues and stem cells at scale. In addition, there is deep institutional expertise in a wide range of major and rare diseases involving multiple human organs and leading engineering and computational and systems biology harnessing artificial intelligence (AI). COMPS was created to connect these strengths across institutions, bringing together faculty, clinicians, and engineers to translate Pittsburgh’s scientific capacity into tangible advances in disease modeling and drug development.
What We’re Building
COMPS is organized around two coordinated tracks:
- Faculty Collaboration Network. This track connects Pitt and UPMC faculty across more than 40 researchers and a dozen scientific disciplines, supporting shared infrastructure, collaborative funding strategy, and joint pursuit of philanthropy and federal and foundation grant mechanisms.
- Industry Partnerships and Commercialization. This track develops validated, reproducible platforms designed for pharmaceutical and biotechnology collaboration and establishes a pathway from discovery to clinical translation to licensing and/or company creation.
Both tracks are supported by shared infrastructure, organoid and tissue engineering cores, iPSC biobanking, and computational modeling resources, built to common standards to ensure that platforms developed within COMPS are reproducible and usable across the consortium.
Why It Matters
Each technology developed within COMPS is intended to give researchers and clinicians more accurate, human-relevant tools for studying disease and evaluating potential therapies. Engineered tissue models, organ-on-chip systems, and computational models of patient data allow investigators to study disease progression and predict drug response with a degree of human relevance that traditional animal models cannot provide.
Leadership
COMPS is co-directed by Dr. Neil Hukriede (CenIOS), whose research focuses on kidney organoids and drug discovery, and Dr. Lans Taylor (OPTIn), whose research focuses on microphysiological systems and computational drug discovery. Together, they oversee a consortium spanning the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, supported by an Executive Steering Committee and an External Advisory Board of national leaders in New Approach Methodologies.
We welcome inquiries from researchers interested in collaboration, industry partners exploring platform capabilities, and prospective supporters of the initiative’s mission.