Vivian Li, Group Leader at the Crick institute, explaining how lab-grown, organiods can be used to fight cancer by using the regenerative potential for stem cell-therapy and organ reconstruction.
Mini-organs, more commonly known in science as organoids, have the power to revolutionise our understanding of stem cell biology and pave the way for personalised medicine. Organoids are created in the lab using human stem cells from real organs. In this talk, Vivian Li describes how scientists at the Francis Crick Institute use them to investigate the biology of bowel cancer, by creating fully functioning mini-intestines on a microscopic scale. These mini-organs also have great regenerative potential for stem cell-therapy and organ reconstruction. Discover the beauty of these miniature guts and how they are helping scientists to fight cancer and regenerate organs. We use bowel as a model to study how stem cells are programmed to maintain a healthy organ and what goes wrong when cancer develops. The cells lining the inside of the bowel are constantly being replenished, keeping the gut healthy and functioning correctly. This process depends on stem cells – specialised ‘immortal’ cells that keep multiplying, producing new stem cells and replacement lining cells. We want to find out how these stem cells are controlled in healthy guts and what happens when they go wrong, leading to bowel cancer. We are particularly interested in a molecule called Wnt, which sends signals to the stem cells to keep them growing and multiplying properly. Overactive Wnt signals are found in many bowel cancers, causing the stem cells to grow out of control and form a tumour. To find out more about Wnt signalling we are studying bowel stem cells growing in the lab in small three-dimensional clumps called organoids (also known as ‘mini-guts’), using gene editing techniques to alter the levels of Wnt and other important signalling molecules. Our work is revealing more about the role of Wnt and stem cells in healthy guts, and also explaining what happens when bowel cancer develops. This will help develop tumour-specific drug for bowel cancer treatment. We also want to use our knowledge to grow
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Location: ExCel London, One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock,
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
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