{"id":2564,"date":"2019-01-09T09:40:59","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T14:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ufluidix.com\/circlesecond\/?p=2564"},"modified":"2019-10-09T14:41:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T18:41:07","slug":"microfluidics-drives-real-life-applicability-of-organoid-advances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ufluidix.com\/circle\/microfluidics-drives-real-life-applicability-of-organoid-advances\/","title":{"rendered":"Microfluidics Drives Real-Life Applicability of Organoid Advances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microfluidic engineering advances sustain organoids and fuel the growing stream of organoid uses. As tiny replicas of human organs, organoids are generated layer-by-layer from stem cells, and realistically vascularized by microfluidic systems<\/a>, enabling life-like blood flow and other fluidic systems. Stem cells nurtured under specific three-dimensional conditions have produced organoids<\/a> that replicate the architecture of the organ from which they were derived.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrganoids are useful in retinal stem cell research,\u201d said Dr. Dennis Clegg<\/a>, a pioneer in the use of stem cells to reverse blindness resulting from age-related macular degeneration, during a live-streamed November 2018\u00a0 \u201cAsk the Stem Cell Team\u201d webinar<\/a> hosted by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Clegg explained how IPS (Induced Pluripotent Stem) cells can be donated by patients with a mutation that causes the blind condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa<\/a>, or RP, and then used to generate organoids.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cAsk<\/a>

\u201cAsk the Stem Cell Team\u201d webinar was hosted by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in November 2018.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt is possible to make a retinal organoid,\u201d Clegg said. \u201cAn organoid is organ-like so it\u2019s not exactly like retinas, but it is very useful in research. You can take an IPS cell from a patient who has a retinal disease and make retinal organoids. It\u2019s not exactly like the retina but it\u2019s similar. It\u2019s useful in research; you can take an IPS cell from a patient, make that cell into an organoid, and compare it to a normal, non-mutated cell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clegg is founder of the University of California Santa Barbara Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering, a Co-Principal Investigator of The California Project to Cure Blindness, and a National Eye Institute lecturer.<\/p>\n

Organoids are helpful because they mimic the layered structure of the eye\u2019s retina. Organoids might yield a population of cells \u201cthat may be useful for treating disease,\u201d according to Clegg. \u201cIf you are going to try to replace the photoreceptor cells that are perishing in a patient\u2019s eye, you could even build a layered structure \u2014 an organoid \u2014 in the lab and then implant that to rebuild that retina.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatients become legally blind when they\u2019ve lost both the rod and cones, the eye\u2019s photoreceptors,\u201d Clegg explained. In a clinical trial, \u201cWe started with patients who\u2019d lost photoreceptors. The goal was safety. We wanted to show our process is safe. For patients who were lacking photoreceptors, the surprise was that some patients showed improvement in vision. We\u2019ve shown it\u2019s safe and we think if we catch the disease early enough, we can rescue photoreceptors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The use of microfluidic-sustained organoids is in many cases more applicable to humans than the use of experimental animals \u2014 and avoids ethical<\/a> conflict. \u201cFor many aspects of research there are no good animal models, and retinal research is one of them,\u201d Clegg noted. \u201cYou could even screen for drugs that might improve that retina-in-the-dish, and that would greatly speed up drug testing.\u201dThe webinar highlighted what cutting-edge advances are on the horizon, with other \u201cStem Cell Team\u201d members Dr. Henry Klassen, and clinical trial volunteer Rosie Barrero<\/a>. University of California Irvine\u2019s Klassen<\/a> is also a long-time researcher<\/a> into the use of stem cell treatment to restore vision to people blinded by degenerative eye disease.<\/p>\n

Some of Barrero\u2019s vision was restored during a clinical trial. Klassen explained that volunteers like Barrero can describe what they see and what they don\u2019t \u2014 which animal subjects cannot do. \u201cWe learn a lot more listening to Rosie than what our experimental rats could ever tell us,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful surprise to hear these good reports coming from patients. I think we\u2019ve all heard how cancer was cured in a mouse and then does not work in humans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout her childhood, Barrero had steadily lost vision in both eyes due to RP \u2014 inherited and incurable. \u201cI did not have night vision, I was very near-sighted, very myopic,\u201d Barrero said. \u201cMy parents were protective and careful, they took care to not let me get into situations where I would injure myself. I did not know why.\u201d As an adult, after giving birth to twins, she noticed a\u00a0significant loss, which worsened after her next pregnancy. \u201cAfter my third child was born I lost central vision.\u201d She felt devastated to know she was going blind. She could not read, and by the time she met Klassen, \u201cI had gotten to the point where I lost hope.\u201d She volunteered for a 2016 trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cRosie\u2019s retinas were pretty beat up and she was blind,\u201d Klassen said. \u201cFor her to see something coming back is a bit astonishing, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI received one million stem cells in the first injection,\u201d Barrero said. \u201cI have seen the most improvement from that first injection. I was blind and now I can see peripherally. The procedure was simple and lasted just a few seconds. I do not have a central vision but I can see out of the side of my eyes. It\u2019s the simple things \u2014 I can see color. Before it was blurred, but now I can see colors through my periphery vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I received the stem cells I really noticed a huge jump in my vision,\u201d Barrero said. \u201cEven if it was just peripheral.\u201d For the first time, \u201cI\u2019ve gone running with my daughter, and I look to my right somewhat. She tells me where there\u2019s a branch or something to avoid. I can\u2019t run on my own, but I can see on one side on my own, which is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Live-streaming viewers were able to submit questions, and one person who submitted comment was one of Barrero\u2019s children. She wrote: \u201cHi Mom. I hope you\u2019ll still want to go shopping with me when you can fully see the price tags and don\u2019t need me anymore!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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