Silke De Vriendt

Organoid cultures have revolutionized biomedical sciences, enabling scientists to establish 3D disease models while preserving the genetic background and pathology of patients. Yet, the full potential of organoids depends on critical innovations, such as advanced assays to decipher and monitor biological processes, imaging tools, delivery of nucleic acids and drugs to organoids and ultimately up-scaling the throughput of such assays. In order to reach such ambitious goals, integrating the expertise of disease and organoid specialists with the expert know-how of technology developers is a must. At KU Leuven, an interdisciplinary team of internationally recognized experts in these fields will act to address these challenges together, this in the framework of an interdisciplinary network OrganADVANCE (link). Silke's project is to define the optimized organoid culture conditions for each tissue, by scrutinizing medium and matrix composition. Both top-down and bottom-up approach will be applied in continuous and dynamic interaction with the tested matrix composition.