On-Demand Webinar — Rethinking 3D Cell Culture: Advanced Cell Cultures from iPSCs and Organoids
Overview
Organoids contain multiple organ-specific cell types that are spatially grouped together to replicate an organ and/or express an organ’s specific aspects or functions, such as neural activity, contraction, endocrine section, excretion and filtration. These three-dimensional advanced in vitro models, offer scientists a detailed view of how organs form and grow, providing new insights on human development and disease, improving drug discovery, and creating new approaches to personalized medicine.
Growing organoids require 3D culture systems, in which cells thrive either in suspension or through a scaffold, made with components from the extracellular matrix as well as technologies that enable characterization of these model systems.
To date, organoids that resemble the brain, kidney, lung, heart, liver, intestine and stomach, have been produced.
Key webinar discussion topics include:
- Details of how to study induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and outlines of commonly used 3D organoid models and applications
- An overview and update on current techniques, to characterize 3D organoid models
- Discussion on the challenges and advantages of 3D organoid models in drug discovery and precision medicine
Webinar Speakers
Sandra Leibel, M.D.
University of California San Diego
San Diego, California
Dr. Leibel received her M.D. from the Jagiellonian University School of Medicine in Krakow, Poland. She received a Master’s in lung physiology from the University of Toronto after being recruited into the Physician Scientist program at the Hospital for Sick Children. Currently she is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, as well as a neonatologist and lung biology researcher.
Dr. Leibel studies the impact of surfactant deficiency on lung and brain development and has developed a novel, stem cell–derived 3D multicellular lung organoid model containing both epithelial and mesenchymal populations. She has experience in multiple lung-culture systems, both primary lung tissue and stem cell–derived, and utilizes gene therapy and reporter cell lines to study surfactant metabolism in the developing lung and the impact of surfactant on viral infections.
Sylvia Boj, Ph.D.
Hubrecht Organoid Technology
Utrecht, The Netherlands
Dr. Boj received her Ph.D. in 2006 at the University of Barcelona, Spain, for her work at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) on functional genetic analysis for deciphering the transcriptional role of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) genes in pancreatic beta cells. With a long-term EMBO fellowship, she subsequently joined the Hubrecht Institute (Utrecht, the Netherlands) as a postdoctoral fellow.
In the laboratory of Hans Clevers, she first studied the role of the TCF7L2 regulating metabolism. Then, she established an in vitro organoid model for human pancreatic cancers. In 2014, she moved to Hubrecht Organoid Technology (HUB), also in Utrecht, as a group leader for its cystic fibrosis and cancer programs.
In 2016, she was appointed as scientific director of HUB, with the goal of transferring scientific advances in organoid technology to the development of new drugs by interacting with pharmaceutical companies and developing clinical trials to validate the predictive value of organoids for patient response. In 2020 she became HUB’s chief scientific officer.
