Milstein Lecture 2021 - Organoids to model human diseases - Hans Clevers

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology César Milstein Lecture 2021
Organoids to model human diseases
Speaker: Hans Clevers, Professor of Molecular Genetics at Utrecht University, in addition to being a principal investigator at the Hubrecht Institute and the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, and an Oncode Investigator.

Abstract:
Stem cells (SCs) are the foundation of all mammalian life. SCs build and maintain our bodies throughout life. Two types of SCs are known; embryonic stem (ES) cells, which are present briefly in the early embryo a few days after fertilisation, and adult stem cells that are more specialised to the tissue they inhabit.

Every organ in our body is believed to harbour its own dedicated stem cells. These adult stem cells replace tissue that is lost due to wear and tear, trauma and disease. Adult stem cells are highly specialised and can only produce the tissue in which they reside, making them multipotent. Examples are bone marrow stem cells that make all blood cells, skin stem cells and gut stem cells. Even the brain is now known to harbour its specialised stem cells. Adult stem cells allow us to live to the high life expectancy we know of 80-90 years old. However, this comes at a cost because they are the cells that most easily transform into cancer cells.

Both types of stem cells can be used to establish ‘organoids’, 3D structures established in a dish, that recapitulate many aspects of the organ they represent. Pluripotent stem cells can be taken through the developmental steps that establish organs during embryogenesis. This has worked particularly well for parts of the central nervous system, the kidney and gastrointestinal organs. We have shown that adult epithelial stem cells carrying the generic Lgr5 marker can be cultured under tissue-repair conditions. These cells can also generate epithelial organoids directly from healthy and diseased organs such as from the gut, the liver, the lung and the pancreas. Organoid technology opens a range of avenues for the study of development, physiology and disease, for drug development and for personalised medicine. In the long run, cultured mini-organs may replace transplant organs from donors and hold promise in gene therapy.

Read more about the lecture and Hans' work here: https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/cesar-...

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