We've Partnered with Tebubio to Bring SmartSphero to Researchers Across Europe!

We’ve got some fantastic news to share. 4Dcell is teaming up with Tebubio to make SmartSphero easier to access across Europe. For us, this is a big step toward getting better 3D culture tools into the hands of the people actually driving organoid research and New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) forward. It just makes the whole process simpler for the teams who need these solutions the most.

Why This Partnership Matters

At 4Dcell, we’ve always felt that the field is moving toward models that actually reflect human biology, and do it in a way that’s more responsible. Partnering with Tebubio means researchers across Europe who are working on NAMs can now get the tools they need without jumping through hoops, and it helps push both scientific quality and the 3Rs in the right direction.

"The organoid field has made tremendous progress, but researchers still face fundamental challenges with reproducibility and scalability," said Cyril Cerveau, CEO of 4Dcell. 

"We developed SmartSphero to address the practical issues like organoid loss during media changes, inconsistent sizing, and the difficulty of imaging hundreds of samples reliably. The future of life sciences research demands models that are both more predictive and more ethical. SmartSphero addresses this dual imperative by enabling researchers to create physiologically relevant in vitro systems that better predict human biology than traditional methods. 

"Our approach is straightforward. Anchor the organoids in place, ensure they're all on the same focal plane, and maintain the simplicity that researchers need. When we see organoid loss drop from 86% to below 12%, or achieve over 95% size reproducibility with thousands of organoids per plate, we know we're solving real problems that impact data quality and experimental success."

The SmartSphero Difference

If you’re new to SmartSphero, the main thing to know is actually pretty simple. Every microwell has a tiny point at the bottom that your spheroids latch onto. Because of that, they stop drifting around or slipping out of view. They just stay where you put them, on the same focal plane, even during longer culture or imaging sessions.

Each well has several microwells inside it, which lets you run multiple replicates in one go and keep things tight in terms of precision. In practice, labs see reproducibility above 95%, so your data doesn’t wander from one experiment to the next. That level of consistency is what you want when you’re aiming for solid, publishable results or scaling up to higher-throughput work.

We also built SmartSphero to be easy to drop into your existing workflow. You plate your cells right onto the scaffold and no extra steps, no special tricks, nothing that forces you to overhaul your protocols. Most teams can pick it up without retraining or new equipment. It just fits into what you’re already doing and removes friction instead of adding it.

SmartSphero ends up being useful in a lot of different areas because it gives cells the conditions they need to organize themselves properly. Cancer labs use it to grow tumor spheroids that actually mimic what happens in the body, which gives them a clearer view of treatment responses. It also shows up in immunology, where recreating realistic cell-cell interactions is everything, and in studies on circulating cells, where you’re trying to understand how cells behave under flow.

Groups focused on oncology use it for breast and lung cancer models, while metabolic research teams lean on it for adipose tissue studies and vascularized immunocompetent systems that integrate tumor, immune, and stromal components. Even researchers studying adipose tissue for diabetes research and genetic disorders like laminopathies have found it helpful because it lets affected cells form structures that reveal disease-specific behaviors.

All of this comes back to the same core idea that SmartSphero creates a setting where very different cell types can self-organize into structures that actually resemble human biology, instead of flattened or simplified versions of it.

The Bigger Picture

The move toward better in vitro models isn’t only a scientific upgrade. Researchers know the limits of 2D cultures and animal studies, especially when it comes to predicting what actually happens in humans. Those gaps play a big role in why so many drug candidates fail late in development. At the same time, there’s a growing push to use approaches that reduce reliance on animals whenever possible.

Through Tebubio's established European distribution network, accessing SmartSphero is now easier than ever. Whether you're developing organoid models, screening drug candidates, studying disease mechanisms, or advancing NAMs in your laboratory, we're here to support your research program.

So are you ready to get started?

We're genuinely excited about what this partnership means for the research community. If you'd like to learn more about how SmartSphero can enhance your research, or if you have specific questions about implementation in your lab, we'd love to hear from you.

Contact us at contact@4dcell.com or visit www.4dcell.com/contact to discuss your specific application, or schedule a consultation with our technical team.