Curi Bio Expands the Curiverse™ with New Disease Models, Casting Kits, and Application-Ready Solutions
Portfolio expansion fortifies Curi Bio’s research services offering within the Curiverse ecosystem, advancing disease-specific cell models and application-ready assays for next-generation, human-relevant drug discovery.
SEATTLE, WA – October 14, 2026 [Originally posted on BusinessWire] – Curi Bio today announced a significant expansion of the Curiverse, the industry’s first closed-loop 3D tissue ecosystem designed to accelerate human-relevant drug discovery through integrated research services. Grounded in disease-specific iPSC-derived cell models and application-ready assays, the Curiverse enables pharmaceutical and biotech researchers to access scientifically rigorous, human functional data across cardiac, skeletal muscle, and neuromuscular disease areas, without the barriers of building and validating models of their own. This expansion deepens the Curiverse research services portfolio with new disease models, accelerated 3D tissue workflow solutions, and expanded application-specific assays, reinforcing Curi Bio’s mission to put transformative scientific tools in the hands of researchers working to discover safer, more effective medicines.
New Cell Models: Targeting Rare Disease and Neuromuscular Function
Two new cell products anchor this expansion. The XLMTM Skeletal Muscle Model is the first and only off-the-shelf, commercially available iPSC-derived model of X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM), a severe pediatric neuromuscular disease. It fills a long-standing gap in rare disease research by giving scientists a human-relevant system for studying XLMTM. The model is built for functional contractility assays on the Mantarray™ platform and supports gene therapy and small molecule discovery programs that target MTM1 mutations. Alongside it, iPSC-Derived Optogenetic Motor Neurons, built on the foundational research the scientific community is celebrating this month, bring light-controlled motor neurons to Curi Bio’s catalog for the first time. Using targeted Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) knock-in methodology, these cells unlock non-invasive, light-stimulated neuromuscular junction (NMJ) functional assays and extend the Curiverse into motor neuron–driven neuromuscular physiology and drug discovery.
Casting Kits: Purpose-Built 3D Tissue Workflows for Faster Discovery
Curi Bio also introduces Curiverse Casting Kits, a suite of pre-optimized, assay-ready bundles that simplify setup and shorten time-to-data for 3D tissue research and screening. Three kits are available. The Cardiac Casting Kit pairs cryopreserved cells with validated media and protocols for forming engineered heart tissues (EHTs) on the Mantarray platform. The Skeletal Muscle Casting Kit provides a complete engineered muscle tissue (EMT) workflow that extends to XLMTM and DM1 disease models. The NMJ Casting Kit is a turnkey neuromuscular junction model that pairs motor neurons with skeletal muscle for functional NMJ assays and ISTAND-aligned botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) potency testing. All three kits are built for automation and fit into Curi Bio’s new automated workflow strategy, including its 96-well high-throughput screening service powered by INTEGRA Biosciences.
Curi Engine™ Applications: One Source for Expanded Assays and Deeper Biological Insights
The Curi Engine applications portfolio expands with four new research services offerings, each delivering pharma-grade biological insights across the preclinical drug discovery and development continuum:
Cardiac Fibrosis Assay: Delivers quantitative, disease-relevant readouts for cardiac fibrosis programs, providing pharmaceutical teams a validated, human-tissue-based platform that delivers quantitative readouts, including collagen deposition and fibrotic biomarker endpoints alongside functional contractility measurements, to support compound screening and mechanism-of-action studies.
BAG3 Inherited Cardiomyopathy Assay: Provides functional disease modeling and contractility readouts, including force, beat rate, and contraction kinetics, alongside disease-relevant biomarker endpoints using iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes carrying BAG3 mutations to support targeted therapeutic development for inherited cardiomyopathy.
NMJ Functional Potency Assay: Advances toward regulatory acceptance as a human-relevant, non-animal model for botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) potency testing. Following the U.S. FDA's formal acceptance of Curi Bio's Letter of Intent into the ISTAND initiative, pharmaceutical and biologics research teams can now access this assay directly as an expert-delivered research service.
High-Throughput 96-Well Screening Services: Leverages an automation-forward collaboration with INTEGRA Biosciences, this service brings fully automated liquid handling and compound dispensing to cardiac and skeletal muscle screening workflows on Nautilai Plus™. Pharmaceutical teams gain access to high-throughput data generation at 96-well scale with the speed, precision, and reproducibility needed to accelerate lead identification and compound profiling, all delivered through Curi Engine Research Services.
“Research teams should spend their time using their data to drive decisions, not on figuring out how to acquire it. The Curiverse Expansion is built entirely around that principle. From a casting kit that gets a team into 3D tissue on day one, to fully automated 96-well screening services delivered by Curi Bio experts, every new disease model, kit, and assay service is designed to lower the barrier to entry and raise the quality of the data. Accessible, automated, and ready now.”
— Dr. Nicholas Geisse, CEO, Curi Bio
About Curi Bio
Curi Bio is accelerating the discovery of next-generation medicines through the Curiverse, the industry’s first closed-loop ecosystem unifying assay-ready iPSC-derived cells, automated high-throughput biosystems, and cloud-based data analytics for human-relevant drug discovery. The Curiverse brings together disease-specific cell models, the Mantarray and Nautilai Plus biosystem platforms, and the Pulse™ analytics engine to deliver human functional data across cardiac, skeletal muscle, and neuromuscular research. Our mission is to give researchers the tools they need to discover safer, more effective medicines, helping patients live longer, healthier lives.
To learn more, visit www.curibio.com.