Next generation organoids

Intestines have the highest cell turnover in the body.  But could lab-grown intestinal organoids mimic that behavior?  The answer is yes, according to scientists in Lausanne, CH, if they are cultured in a microfluidic chip scaffold that has the tube shape of natural tissue.  “The EPFL researchers used a laser to sculpt this gut-shaped scaffold within a hydrogel, a soft mix of crosslinked proteins found in the gut’s extracellular matrix supporting the cells in the native tissue. Aside from being the substrate on which the stem cells could grow, the hydrogel thus also provides the form or “geometry” that would build the final intestinal tissue.  Once seeded in the gut-like scaffold, within hours, the stem cells spread across the scaffold, forming a continuous layer of cells with its characteristic crypt structures and villus-like domains. Then came the surprise: the scientists found that, the stem cells just “knew” how to arrange themselves in order to form a functional tiny gut. . . . .  The stem cells didn’t just adopt to the shape of the scaffold, they produced all the key differentiated cell types found in the real gut, with some rare and specialized cell types normally not found in organoids.”  MORE

 Image Credit:  actu.epfl.ch