ON-DEMAND PANEL DISCUSSION

Transitioning to patient-derived in vitro cell models

Steady progress in the development of organoids and other 3D cellular models of tissues over the last decade has led to the generation of highly advanced, patient-derived in vitro models. Using these models, researchers can investigate tissues and their disease states more pragmatically and with more deeply explorative techniques. As a result of their increasing parity to in vivo environments, the ability to derive them directly from patient samples and their utility, researchers are increasingly using these models in place of animal models and 2D cell cultures. This shift has been exemplified by the recent US FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which stipulates that drug candidates are no longer obliged to be tested in animal models prior to clinical trials.

This Panel Discussion will discuss a brief history of their development, their current applications, integrating these models into your work, and the tips for best practice when using them.

The Panelists

Alice Soragni

Principle Investigator
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA; CA, USA)

Alice Soragni is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at UCLA and a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (CA, USA). Originally from Italy, she received her PhD in Physical Chemistry from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and conducted her postdoc with David Eisenberg at UCLA before starting her independent lab in December 2016.

Robert Vries

CEO
HUB Organoids

Robert received his PhD in Biochemistry from the Leiden University Medical Center (The Netherlands) where he studied oncogenic cell transformation in the lab of Alex Jan van der Eb. He subsequently moved to Stanford University (CA, USA) to pursue his post-doctoral career on neural stem cells. Upon his return to The Netherlands, he joined the group of Hans Clevers at the Hubrecht Institute (Utrecht, The Netherlands) where he was involved in the development of the breakthrough “Organoid Technology” that allows the expansion of adult stem cells and the development of “mini-organs in a dish”. Rob is currently CEO of HUB, which was founded to further develop and refine the Organoid Technology.

Toshiro Sato

Professor
Keio University (Japan)

Toshiro is engaged in basic and translational research that aims to understand how stem cells self-renew in niche microenvironments. Since the development of organoid technology, he has applied it to human tissues, seeking to understand genotype–phenotype correlations in human diseases. He has also developed a robust organoid-based platform that streamlines the study of human biology. The platform encompasses efficient establishment of organoids from patient-derived tissues, genome-editing of organoids, a high-throughput drug screening system, xenotransplantation of human organoids and co-culture systems to assess epithelium-microbiota interactions.