Cystic Fibrosis organoid model

Jeffrey Beekman

Prof. Beekman uses patient-annotated intestinal and airway adult stem cell models for human disease modeling. His work on CF intestinal organoids is spearheading a paradigm shift that is currently leading to a transfer of clinical testing from the patient to the lab. His lab developed and validated the first clinical application of adult stem cell organoids (intestinal), showing that in vitro responses of drugs for cystic fibrosis directly correlate with in vivo clinical responses. This assay for cystic fibrosis facilitates target identification and validation, high throughput preclinical drug testing (96-384 wells), clinical trial design and personalized medicine applications.

Highlights

  • First ever successful application of organoids for personalized medicine;
  • Demonstrates the potential for superior predicitivity of innovative in vitro models compared to animal tests;
  • Awarded with the NRS research award 2012, ECFS award 2017, ERS excellence award for research in cystic fibrosis 2017, and the Prix Galien Research Award 2019;
  • Patient-annotated biobanks of >750 intestinal CF organoids and >200 airway cells for academic and commercial research
  • Licenses for intestinal organoid technology are available at Hubrecht Organoid Technology (www.hub4organoids.eu) / access to airway cell technology via Beekman

Principal Investigator

Jeffrey Beekman
E: jbeekman@umcutrecht.nl
T: +31 88 755 3201