Microglia Research Services
Patient-derived microglia-like models for disease-specific translational drug testing and therapeutic development
Microglia Research Services
Neurodegenerative diseases are an increasing global healthcare burden, particularly in ageing populations, underscoring the urgent need for reliable, disease-relevant and reproducible human model systems that accelerate therapeutic discovery and translation. The QIMR Berghofer offers a contract research service based on Monocyte-Derived Microglia-like cells (MDMi) generated from human peripheral blood monocytes, providing rapid, cost-effective and clinically relevant patient derived 2D and 3D models that preserve donor-specific and disease-associated features for mechanistic studies, drug screening and patient-specific profiling.
Why use human blood-derived microglia?
MDMi enable rapid and cost-effective generation of patient-derived human microglia-like cultures from easily accessible blood samples, preserving patient heterogeneity and recapitulating disease relevant features. We provide a clinically relevant, human-based platform that better captures the physiological complexity of neurodegenerative diseases than conventional model systems.
Patient-derived: From living human donors; avoiding animal systems or post-mortem tissue
Model Versatility:
- Co-culture with neurons/ Blood-brain barrier where appropriate
- 3D culture (improves microglial characteristics and survival)
- Drug screening for a variety of neurological diseases
- Extensive cohort studies
- Multi-omics (Transcriptomics, genomics, proteomics and many more downstream assays)
Clinically relevant and Specific: Donor and/or disease specific=> better reflects the human immune response, gene expression and disease mechanisms
Ethical: Eliminates the need for animal use and ethically sensitive human tissues
Rapid and cost-effective: Patient samples are donated and transdifferentiated within 14 days
Accessible and practical: Minimally invasive, easy and rapid sample collection
Scalable and Reproducible: Repeated blood draws from same donor enable:
- longitudinal studies
- larger cohort designs
- reproducible and patient-specific comparisons
Garry Redlich DUniv - CEO & Managing Director of Implicit Bioscience
“As a local biopharma industry partner, we are delighted with our interactions with Professor White and his team developing the Monocyte-Derived Microglia-like cell (MDMi) research service. Innate immune cells play a major role in the inflammatory milieu of the CNS that drives neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases and this group at QIMR continues to do breakthrough work that shifts the odds of meaningful disease modification in the near future."
Cost-recovery research
Driven by a not-for-profit mission to improve the quality of life for people affected by disease, we operate on a cost-recovery basis, guided by scientific passion and a commitment to meaningful translational impact. As the first laboratory in Australia to generate MDMi, we bring unmatched expertise to collaborative research.
We see cooperation across disciplines as a beneficial opportunity to grow and use each others expertise to jointly answer the most complicated questions.
MDMi Service Scope
From project concept to actionable insights
Initial discussion
Project aims and feasibility
Service quote and project agreement
Study design
Generation of 2D and/or 3D MDMi cultures
Experimental delivery
Read outs and final report
Expected project timelines
Indicative timelines depend on the study design, donor availability, and downstream assays required, while offering a faster experimental turnaround than complex stem cell-based workflows.
- 2D MDMi are typically differentiated over 14 days
- 3D MDMi are typically differentiated over 35 days
Drug treatment and downstream phenotyping are then added according to project scope.
Why partner with QIMR Berghofer
QIMR Berghofer was the first laboratory in Australia to establish the MDMi platform and has developed deep expertise in patient-derived microglia-like models, including 2D, 3D and co-culture applications. Our work is supported by a strong publication record, established disease cohorts and experience working with academic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical collaborators.
As a not-for-profit medical research institute, we operate on a transparent cost-recovery basis while maintaining a strong focus on scientific quality, reproducibility and translational impact.