The Body Regenerated: converging technology and physiology

Have you ever heard of a "mini-gut" grown in a lab? These incredible 3D structures, called organoids, are small and mimic the human gut. The gut has resident stem cells develop into the different cell types found in a human gut. Hence, these "mini-guts" can be cultured in the lab and they allow us to study them in a controlled environment, helping us understand and aid in drug discovery in diseases like inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and even cancer. This talk is perfect for anyone curious about the cutting edge of gut health research and how it's paving the way for new discoveries!

Organ-on-chip systems are now attracting substantial interest owing to their potential to provide insights into normal human organ function and disease, and more accurately predict the safety and efficacy of therapeutics in humans. They are becoming useful additions to traditional preclinical cell culture methods and animal studies, and in the near future replacements for them. These systems enable researchers to recreate human biology, reproducing the organ microenvironment and cell interactions. In our laboratory, we use them to increase scientific precision, true-to-life biology, and predictive power beyond that of conventional models.

Nobody wants a foreign material in their body permanently if they can help it, right? The world of medical technology is rapidly advancing to create implantable medical devices that can be easily manufactured, deliver the desired outcomes, and then disappear without impacting ‘normal’ bodily functions. This is easier said than done and, despite there being a range of resorbable implantable medical devices on the market, they often have sub-optimal clinical performances, whether that be due to poor degradation profiles or the onset of local inflammatory responses. This talk will explain how the novel, resorbable biomaterial, 4Degra®, has been developed to overcome these issues.