Celebrating Excellence
in 3D Cell Culture Research!
ibidi is thrilled to announce the winners of the ibidi Paper Award 2024, recognizing outstanding contributions from Early Career Scientists. Each winner will receive 500€ for their impactful research in the field.
Congratulations to the Winners!
Thank you to all participants for submitting your publications and making the 2024 ibidi Paper Award a resounding success. A special appreciation goes to Prof. Dr. Andreas Bausch, Dr. Mina Gouti, and Dr. Ryuji Morizane for their invaluable contribution as jury members.
Heart and Kidney Organoids Maintain Organ-Specific Function in a Microfluidic System
Beatrice is a biomedical engineer specializing in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at the University of Padova and her master’s degree at the UAS Technikum Vienna. During her last year of her master’s, she received a scholarship from the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation to complete her studies and write her thesis in Prof. Pu’s lab at the Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Her master thesis focused on developing a hiPSC-derived engineered heart model to study a pediatric case of restrictive cardiomyopathy. She is currently in her third PhD year at the Anatomy and Embryology Department of the Leiden University Medical Center, supervised by Prof. Bellin and promoted by Prof. Mummery. Her PhD project aims to generate a novel hiPSC heart and kidney on-chip system to study the cardiorenal axis in vitro. She is passionate about using advanced stem cell models in research and is fascinated with integrating biology and high-end technology.
Beatrice Gabbin, M.Sc., Leiden University Medical Center
Why Beatrice’s Publication Convinced the Jury:
This pioneering study conducts in vitro research using a microfluidic system to replicate the interaction between the heart and kidney. It provides insight into how these two organs mutually influence each other's function. Using cardiac microtissues and kidney organoids from induced pluripotent stem cells, researchers demonstrate sustained tissue viability under dynamic conditions, mirroring physiological flow dynamics. This model offers controlled experimentation to explore fluidic parameters and understand diseases like cardiorenal syndrome. By bridging the gap between existing models and in vivo physiology, this study lays the groundwork for comprehensive multi-organ interaction studies in 3D cell culture, promising advancements in understanding the cardiorenal axis and enhancing translational research for improved patient treatments.
Publication: Gabbin, B., et al., Heart and kidney organoids maintain organ-specific function in a microfluidic system. Mater Today Bio, 2023. 23: p. 100818.
From the left: the ibidi µ-Slide III 3D Perfusion was used for the co-culture of hiPSC-derived cardiac microtissues and kidney organoids. Immunofluorescence images of the retained cardiac and kidney structures (respectively) after 72 h of on-chip co-culture. Markers of cardiac sarcomeres: alpha-actinin-2 (red), troponin I (green). Markers of kidney nephron structures: nephrin (red), lotus tetragonolobus lectin (proximal tubules, green).
Mechano-Activated Cell Therapy for Accelerated Diabetic Wound Healing
Yufeng is a postdoctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore, where he obtained his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Andy Tay. Before that, he received his master’s degree from the University of Toronto, Canada. Yufeng’s research focuses on understanding how dynamic mechanical forces regulate cell behaviors such as cell morphology, proliferation, migration, and secretomes. Based on this, he is developing a series of biomaterials to utilize dynamic forces for clinical applications, including stem cell therapy, wound healing, and immuno-engineering. For example, he has created a skin cell-encapsulated hydrogel bandage that accelerates diabetic wound healing using a wireless magneto-induced dynamic mechanical stimulation (MDMS) system. Additionally, he is exploring and uncovering the mechanical features of surrounding tissue that promote tumorigenesis and using this knowledge to develop in vitro 3D platforms for disease modeling and personalized drug screening.
Yufeng Shou, M.Eng., PhD, National University of Singapore
Why Yufeng’s Publication Convinced the Jury:
A wireless magneto-induced dynamic mechanical stimulation (MDMS) system was developed to accelerate diabetic wound healing, achieving significantly improved wound closure, fibroblast proliferation, collagen deposition, and angiogenesis through the Ras/MEK/ERK pathway. Additionally, the system enables on-demand insulin release and identifies a mechanosensitive fibroblast subpopulation, offering a comprehensive solution for diabetic and other challenging wound types.
Publication: Shou, Y., et al., Mechano-Activated Cell Therapy for Accelerated Diabetic Wound Healing. Advanced Materials, 2023. 35(47): p. 2304638.
3D modeling of confocal images showing the uniform 3D distribution of cells (blue) and TMPs (red) within the hydrogel construct, indicating a uniform distribution of cell and magnetic particles in the hydrogel construct.
Chiara Lago for her First Author Publication in EMBO Molecular Medicine:
Patient- and Xenograft-Derived Organoids Recapitulate Pediatric Brain Tumor Features and Patient Treatments
Chiara is a postdoctoral researcher at the Armenise-Harvard Laboratory of Brain Disorders and Cancer at the University of Trento, Italy. She started to specialize in cancer during her master’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology. During her Master's internship, she sharpened her knowledge in cancer modeling and development, working both with organoids and mouse models to recapitulate the tumorigenic phenotype of medulloblastoma.
After graduation, she spent a period abroad thanks to the Erasmus+ Program, applying her technical skills with organoids to study the aberrant brain development that characterizes patients affected by Autosomal Recessive Primary Microcephaly. In the summer of 2023, she completed her PhD in Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Trento (graded cum laude); the main aim of the project was the creation, directly from primary tumor samples, of patient- and xenograft-derived organoids (PDOs and PDXOs) for pediatric brain cancers. Through this new model, she verified the potential of PDOs for more translational applications by evaluating their response to routinely applied therapeutic regimens. Chiara is fascinated by the use of organoid technology in the cancer field and very committed to pediatric cancer research.
Chiara Lago, PhD, University of Trento
Why Chiara’s Publication Convinced the Jury:
Developing patient-derived organoid (PDO) models for pediatric brain cancer is crucial for studying tumor biology and assessing new anticancer therapies. Lago et al., describe an effective method for generating PDOs and patient-derived xenograft organoids (PDXOs) from pediatric brain tumors by mechanical cutting rather than enzymatic dissociation. The authors show that PDOs' viability and culture longevity vary significantly with tumor type. For example, organoids from EPN (ependymoma) and MB (medulloblastoma) tumors were more robust and could be cultured longer and amplified more readily than those from LGG (low-grade glioma) tumors. Additionally, the EPN and MB-derived PDOs were successfully engrafted in mice, confirming their potential use for in vivo studies.
Furthermore, the organoids maintained histological characteristics, DNA methylation profiles, mutational profiles, tumor heterogeneity, and biomarker expression of the original tumors, even after prolonged culture. Finally, initial drug testing on PDOs demonstrated that EPN and MB-derived PDOs were sensitive to chemotherapy treatments tailored to mimic those used in clinical settings. This suggests that PDOs can be a reliable tool for predicting patient-specific responses to therapy, thereby enhancing their translational value for personalized medicine.
Publication: Lago, C., et al., Patient‐ and xenograft‐derived organoids recapitulate pediatric brain tumor features and patient treatments. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 2023. 15(12): p. e18199.
Confocal image of DAPI staining (blue) and immunofluorescence of human nuclear antigen (green) and Ki67 proliferation marker (red) of a patient-derived xenograft organoid (PDXO) of Group 3 medulloblastoma; whole mounting staining. Organoids were stained with human nuclear antigen antibody to verify they were derived from the human samples used to generate the original PDX and were highly proliferating.
Andreas Bausch, Ph.D.
Technical University of Munich, Germany
Prof. Bausch holds currently the Chair of Cellular Biophysics and is the Founding Director of the Center of Protein Assemblies at the Technical University of Munich. Since 2022 he has been founding director of the Center of Organoid Systems and Tissue Engineering at the TUM. After studying physics at TUM and the Université de Montréal, he received his doctorate at TUM (1999). An Emmy Noether scholarship enabled him to study at Harvard University under Prof. D. Weitz. After receiving many invitations from around the world, Prof. Bausch accepted the Chair of Cellular Biophysics at TUM in 2008. He had a visiting Miller Professor Appointment at the University of California, Berkeley (2015) and since 2021 he is a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. His work targets a quantitative understanding of the mechanical properties of the cytoskeleton, and the microscopic mechanisms of self-organization on the molecular as well on the organoid scale, to which end he developed a range of active matter systems.
Mina Gouti, Ph.D.
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany
Dr. Mina Gouti is a group leader at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, where she works at the interface of developmental biology, stem cell research, and organoid technologies. She earned her Master's degree in Molecular Medicine from Imperial College London and later obtained her PhD in Stem Cells and Developmental Biology from the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens under the guidance of Dr. A. Gavalas. During her postdoctoral research at the Francis Crick Institute in James Briscoe's lab, Dr. Gouti developed an innovative method for the in vitro generation of neuromesodermal progenitors from pluripotent stem cells. Building on this foundational work, her lab has pioneered the generation of 3D human neuromuscular organoids (NMOs) from human pluripotent stem cell-derived neuromesodermal progenitor cells. This groundbreaking achievement represents the first human organoid model where all the components of a functional neuromuscular junction are generated in 3D. Her contributions to the scientific community have been recognized through numerous accolades, including being named an EMBO Young Investigator and receiving prestigious grants such as the ERC Consolidator Grant and an ERC Proof of Concept grant.
Ryuji Morizane, MD, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Dr. Ryuji Morizane, a physician-scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, specializes in renal research, particularly focusing on translational studies using human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for kidney diseases and drug discovery. His pioneering work since 2007 in pluripotent stem cell research led to the development of protocols for inducing kidney lineage cells and generating nephron progenitor cells and kidney organoids from hPSCs with remarkable efficiency. Notably, Dr. Morizane's innovative approach involves combining organoid and bioengineering technology to create kidney organoids with vascular structures, representing a significant advancement in renal research. This groundbreaking research promises new insights into kidney development and disease pathogenesis, earning him the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award in 2019 and establishing him as a leading expert in the field.
Check out the winners of the ibidi Paper Award 2023 (Immunology) here.