A good start of the New Year! Another new hDMT theme group has been established and will kick-off on March 16th 2023: Kidney-on-Chip.
Coordinators are Silvia Mihăilă (chair, Utrecht University) and Jitske Jansen (vice-chair, Erasmus MC). Aim of the Kidney-on-Chip theme group is to bring together hDMT members focusing on kidney disease models, kidney regeneration and kidney in vitro models for drug screening. This working group aims to promote interaction, share knowledge, and provide opportunities for collaboration. By sharing expertise and facilities, this working group will advance the development of functional human kidney organoids (for health and disease). These systems could be used to unravel mechanisms of kidney disease. The in vitro models developed herein can also be used as a human measurement model for the investigation of pathophysiology of metabolic bone diseases, for screening of potential pharmacological compounds for improving kidney quality, even on a personalized basis. These tools can also be used to further advance the development of a bioartificial kidney device.
Silvia Mihăilă (Utrecht University)
Chair
Jitske Jansen (Erasmus MC)
Vice-chair
Challenges
The challenges of the Kidney-on-Chip group are to mimic the structural, cellular and functional complexity of the kidney and to address the remote connection/ interactions with other organs via metabolic regulations. Several issues need to be resolved:
- Maturation of kidney organoids
- Differentiation and isolation of different cell types
- Physiological consideration related to kidney function (urine formation, albumin reabsorption, glomerular filtration and tubular secretion)
- Replicating the interstitial space that supports the vasculature and the tubular system of the nephron
- Perfusable systems to assess transepithelial transport of (toxic) compounds
Read more about the Kidney-on-Chip group here.
Note: If you are interested to become a member of the hDMT Kidney-on-Chip theme group and actively contribute to the development and implementation of Kidney-on-Chip models, please send an email with your request to Ellen Thomassen (e.thomassen@hdmt.technology).
