Company commercializes a lymph node–on–a–chip platform built on NIH-funded research at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — November 1, 2025 — Lympha Bio, a biotechnology company developing human in-vitro models of the immune system, announced its formation today. The company is commercializing a lymph node-on-a-chip — a lymphoid microphysiological system that models how human immune responses unfold outside the body — to give drug developers earlier, more human-relevant insight than animal models and to reduce reliance on them.
The platform grows out of more than $3.5 million in NIH-funded research and a HeroX Complement-ARIE Challenge Prize awarded to the founding team, whose work spans immunoengineering, tissue engineering, and the biology of the lymph node.
“The lymph node is where the immune response is actually decided, yet it has been one of the hardest tissues to study. By rebuilding its structure and signaling in vitro, we can ask questions about human immunity that animal models simply can’t answer,” said Rebecca Pompano, a co-founder of Lympha Bio and an associate professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia.
“Fluid flow shapes how immune cells move and respond, and it is missing from most lab models. Engineering it back in with human cells gives us a platform that behaves more like the real thing, and that is what makes the data worth trusting,” said Jennifer Munson, a co-founder of Lympha Bio and a professor and director of the Cancer Research Center – Roanoke at Virginia Tech
About Lympha Bio
Lympha Bio develops human, in-vitro models of the immune system to help teams predict immune responses earlier and rely less on animal testing. Predicting Immunity. Powering Discovery.
About Lympha Bio
Lympha Bio develops human-relevant, in-vitro models of the immune system to help teams predict immune responses earlier and rely less on animal testing. Predicting Immunity. Powering Discovery.
