Studying Cystic Fibrosis Using Primary Human Nasal Epithelial Cells
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease that affects multiple organs in the body. The primary defects are in the airway and related to epithelial dysfunction. Technological advances have enabled researchers to study CF using specialized in vitro cell culture models to recapitulate the pseudostratified airway epithelium. In this webinar, Dr. Theo Moraes elaborates on the advantages of using nasal epithelial cell cultures to perform such studies and their implications for precision medicine in CF. He also discusses the Program for Individualized Cystic Fibrosis Therapy (CFIT)—a collaboration between CF Canada, SickKids Foundation, and The Hospital for Sick Children—and how it utilizes the nasal culture methodology to develop a nationally accessible resource and to accelerate the development of individualized therapies for CF patients.
Dr. Theo Moraes is a clinician and researcher at The Hospital for Sick Children and the SickKids Research Institute in Toronto, Canada.
CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing of Cerebral Organoids to Model Microcephaly
Cerebral organoids have proven themselves to be physiologically relevant models to study neurodevelopmental disorders such as microcephaly. Dr. Madeline Lancaster has previously shown that cerebral organoids derived from a microcephalic patient have defects that mimic the debilitating in vivo condition.* In this virtual poster presentation, Leon Chew discusses his work gene editing cerebral organoids to model microcephaly. Chew will walk you through how he used CRISPR-Cas9 to generate a mutated hPSC cell line, characterized the stable clones for cell quality attributes, and differentiated the cells to cerebral organoids. The resulting cerebral organoids were smaller and had defects in neuronal development similar to data from Lancaster et al.*
Leon Chew is a Scientist at STEMCELL Technologies, overseeing the development of cerebral organoid products.
*Lancaster MA et al. (2013) Cerebral organoids model human brain development and microcephaly. Nature 501(1): 373–9.
Modeling Host-Microbe Interactions Using Human Intestinal Organoids
A common challenge to studying host-microbe interactions is the lack of optimal in vitro culture systems to recapitulate in vivo infection. In this virtual paper presentation, Dr. Devanjali Dutta discusses her research using human intestinal and lung organoids to study Cryptosporidium infection. Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite, a leading cause of diarrhea, and a major cause of child mortality worldwide. Dr. Dutta describes how she—and her colleagues in the lab of Dr. Hans Clevers—infected intestinal and lung organoids derived from healthy human donors with Cryptosporidium. In their paper*, organoids are presented as a physiologically relevant in vitro model to study Cryptosporidium and other pathogenic infections.
Dr. Devanjali Dutta is a Postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. Hans Clever at the Hubrecht Institute.
*Heo I, Dutta D et al. (2018) Nat Microbiol. 3(7):814–23.
Spotlight on Organoids: Expert Panel
Listen in as organoid experts address topics from RegMedNet's spotlight on organoids. Drs. Meritxell Huch (University of Cambridge), Farzan Pourfarzad (Hubrecht Organoid Technology), Ryan Conder (STEMCELL Technologies), and Sumeer Dhar (AMSBIO) discuss applications, features, and common challenges of organoid cultures.
Data Quality and Standards for Pluripotent Stem Cells
In this recorded webinar, Dr. Andreas Kurtz from the BCRT discusses the data and quality standards around human pluripotent stem research including cell line accessibility, ethical considerations, and more.
Organoid Expert Panel
What could organoids do for your research? In this in-depth panel discussion, STEMCELL's organoid experts answer questions submitted by you. Topics include evaluating organoids as tissue and disease models, variability in organoid cultures, and future outlooks in translational and clinical applications.