Our mission

Bone is an organ with remarkable healing capacity, guided by a process called endochondral ossification—the same mechanism that shapes our skeleton during development. Inspired by nature, we set out to create a biomaterial that could regenerate bone mimicking the body's native process. The solution we developed goes beyond mere regeneration. Not only does it promote full bone formation in vivo, but the resulting structure captures the complexity of mature bone, fully vascularized and filled with functional marrow spaces, trabeculae, and a diverse community of niche cells.

 

Inspired by this unprecedented success we asked ourselves: if we can recreate so faithfully human bone, why not explore our innovative approach to study diseases that affect it?

 

Bone is more than a support scaffold; it is a dynamic organ, deeply intertwined with health and disease. Leukemia, a common blood cancer, takes root in the bone marrow. Solid cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer, often spread to the skeleton, disrupting its delicate balance and rendering them difficult to treat. Yet, understanding the primary and secondary processes of disease development and progression in the bone has been severely hindered by the lack of preclinical in vivo models that can acurately reflect the human bone environment.

 

At Dhalion, we use OssiGel to generate miniaturized human bones (aka ossicles) from patient-derived cells. These "ossicles" provide a living, patient-specific model to study how their particular cancer develops, progresses, and responds to various treatments. By providing a robust, physiologically relevant preclinical model, we aim to bridge the gap between bench and bedside, accelerating the translation of discoveries into effective clinical therapies.