Cardiovascular Tissue Regeneration

ESR project

2.4

Title of Project

Development of high throughput applications for renal organoids

We offered

A 4-year PhD student position in the interdisciplinary area of regenerative medicine. The project will focus on the development of high throughput evaluation of renal organoids for industrial application.

Department

The Department of Nephrology and Hypertension at UMC Utrecht.

Description

Renal organoids are patient derived three-dimensional multicellular renal epithelial structures that mimic tissue function ex vivo and can be expanded almost unlimitedly. Renal organoid cultures can be derived from renal biopsy tissue and also non-invasively from patient urine. Preliminary experiments have shown that epithelial morphology and function of renal organoid tissue can be evaluated in a standardized fashion using Organoplates ©

The characteristics of the renal organoids combined with a standardized evaluation assay holds promise for not only high throughput screening of drugs for function and toxicity, but also for personalized medicine. In collaboration with the HUB and Mimetas we aim to build a biobank for renal organoids, both from patients with genetic diseases as well as healthy controls. Using this biobank we aim to set up standardized assays for epithelial function and viability to test the effect of pharmaceutical compounds (e.g. diuretics) on specific renal epithelial function (e.g. sodium transport) and renal toxicity respectively.

Contact person & more information

Prof. Marianne Verhaar, UMC Utrecht

RESCUE

This project is part of RESCUE, a multidisciplinary, intersectoral and interdisciplinary PhD training programme in Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells organised by UMC Utrecht (coordinator) and Utrecht University. RESCUE is partly funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND scheme. There are specific requirements with regards to English language and mobility for candidates who would like to take part in this programme. More information