Descrizione del progetto
Strutture simili a embrioni con vasi sanguigni
I gastruloidi sono organoidi embrionali multi-tessuto, ossia versioni miniaturizzate e semplificate di un organo, capaci di replicare i processi di sviluppo dei mammiferi, tra cui l’organogenesi iniziale, in una piastra di Petri. Sono molto promettenti per i progressi scientifici grazie alla loro capacità di modellare gli organi nelle loro prime fasi riconoscibili. Tuttavia, gli organoidi odierni sono piccoli e non sono in grado di sviluppare le proprie reti vascolari. Il progetto SUMO, finanziato dall’UE, si è concentrato sullo sviluppo cardiovascolare e dell’intestino anteriore e ha applicato tecnologie all’avanguardia, come l’intelligenza artificiale e la bioingegneria, per creare gastruloidi riproducibili e scalabili con una morfologia simile a quella degli embrioni che dimostrano uno stadio avanzato di sviluppo degli organi.
Obiettivo
The lack of realistic in vitro organ models that can faithfully represent in vivo physiological processes is a major obstacle affecting the biological and medical sciences. The current gold standard is animal experiments, but it is increasingly clear that these models mostly fail to recapitulate the human physiology. Moreover, animal experiments are controversial, and it is a common goal in the scientific community to minimize the use of animals to a strictly necessary minimum. The emergence of stem cell engineered organ models called organoids represents the only viable alternative to animal research. However, current organoid technology is yet to produce the larger physiologically relevant organmodels that the medical sciences really need. Specifically, current organoids are too small, not vascularized and lack the 3-dimensional organization found in vivo. In this interdisciplinary project we aim to challenge all these limitations by using the recently developed gastruloid technology guided by cutting edge bioengineering and artificial intelligence. Gastruloids are formed by initiating the very early developmental processes and develops along a highly coordinated three axial process that closely resembles mammalian embryogenesis. Moreover, gastruloids can develop several organ precursors simultaneously and thus constitutes important improvements over conventional single-tissue organoids. To harvest the potential of gastruloid technology we will first implement large sequencing and imaging experiments to optimize the developmental trajectory of gastruloids for organ inductions. We will then build these datasets into a multimodal data matrix to identify gastruloid candidates for cardiovascular and foregut development. Specifically, we will identify candidates that show strong vasculogenesis as candidates for later vascularisation by anastomose with endothelial cells.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Invito a presentare proposte
HORIZON-EIC-2021-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01
Vedi altri progetti per questo bandoMeccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC GrantsCoordinatore
0450 Oslo
Norvegia