Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) are exploring numerous disease processes in the gastrointestinal system and asking key questions: Can treatments be customized to each patient? Can we predict how a patient will respond to a drug before trial-and-error treatment? Is it possible to understand how certain diseases begin and develop in a specific individual to know exactly how to cure it?
A recent study in Nature Methods – written by Dongeun (Dan) Huh, PhD, and his group, in collaboration with Kathryn E. Hamilton, PhD, and the CHOP Gastrointestinal Epithelium Modeling (GEM) Program – introduces the Organoid Culture-based Three-dimensional Organogenesis Platform with Unrestricted Supply of soluble signals. The device – known as OCTOPUS – nurtures mini organs to unmatched levels of maturity. In the study, the team used OCTOPUS to learn more about the unique challenges faced by children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
First developed in 2009, these mini organs in a dish – known as patient-derived organoids – opened doors to major improvements in medical research and patient care. Scientists create the organoids by collecting organ-specific stem cells, introducing them into a three-dimensional matrix, and nourishing them with a carefully developed chemical diet. The stem cells spontaneously organize themselves into an immature organ, which can then be studied in the lab.
Organoids can reproduce both healthy and abnormal aspects of individual patients’ organs, generating a wealth of data about human bodies that would otherwise be difficult to access. The more mature the organoid, the more they approximate the true complexity of the organ.
Scientists involved in this research and co-authors of the recent study include:
- Dongeun (Dan) Huh, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Kathryn E. Hamilton, PhD, Co-Director of the Gastrointestinal Epithelium Modeling (GEM) Program at CHOP
- Tatiana Karakasheva, PhD, Associate Director of the GEM Program at CHOP
- Benjamin J. Wilkins, MD, PhD, Attending Pathologist in the Division of Anatomic Pathology and a researcher in the Pediatric Liver Center at CHOP
- Sunghee Estelle Park; Shawn Kang; Jungwook Paek; Andrei Georgescu; Jeehan Chang; and Alex Yoon Yi, doctoral students in Bioengineering at Penn
Read an expanded article on Penn Engineering Today’s website or the full study published in Nature Methods.
Featured in this article
Specialties & Programs
Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) are exploring numerous disease processes in the gastrointestinal system and asking key questions: Can treatments be customized to each patient? Can we predict how a patient will respond to a drug before trial-and-error treatment? Is it possible to understand how certain diseases begin and develop in a specific individual to know exactly how to cure it?
A recent study in Nature Methods – written by Dongeun (Dan) Huh, PhD, and his group, in collaboration with Kathryn E. Hamilton, PhD, and the CHOP Gastrointestinal Epithelium Modeling (GEM) Program – introduces the Organoid Culture-based Three-dimensional Organogenesis Platform with Unrestricted Supply of soluble signals. The device – known as OCTOPUS – nurtures mini organs to unmatched levels of maturity. In the study, the team used OCTOPUS to learn more about the unique challenges faced by children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
First developed in 2009, these mini organs in a dish – known as patient-derived organoids – opened doors to major improvements in medical research and patient care. Scientists create the organoids by collecting organ-specific stem cells, introducing them into a three-dimensional matrix, and nourishing them with a carefully developed chemical diet. The stem cells spontaneously organize themselves into an immature organ, which can then be studied in the lab.
Organoids can reproduce both healthy and abnormal aspects of individual patients’ organs, generating a wealth of data about human bodies that would otherwise be difficult to access. The more mature the organoid, the more they approximate the true complexity of the organ.
Scientists involved in this research and co-authors of the recent study include:
- Dongeun (Dan) Huh, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Kathryn E. Hamilton, PhD, Co-Director of the Gastrointestinal Epithelium Modeling (GEM) Program at CHOP
- Tatiana Karakasheva, PhD, Associate Director of the GEM Program at CHOP
- Benjamin J. Wilkins, MD, PhD, Attending Pathologist in the Division of Anatomic Pathology and a researcher in the Pediatric Liver Center at CHOP
- Sunghee Estelle Park; Shawn Kang; Jungwook Paek; Andrei Georgescu; Jeehan Chang; and Alex Yoon Yi, doctoral students in Bioengineering at Penn
Read an expanded article on Penn Engineering Today’s website or the full study published in Nature Methods.
Contact us
Gastrointestinal Epithelium Modeling (GEM) Program