UC Science Today

Have you heard of organoids? These are mini 3D models made to mimic the physiology of various organs, from the stomach to the brain. A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley recently created an organoid system for the heart using heart cells grown from human stem cells. Bioengineering professor Kevin Healy says their small cardiac chip can be used for drug screening and studies on early heart development.

"We have of course, the cells derived from the heart. But we don't have blood vessels from the heart. We don't have other aspects like heart valve tissue."

To show how different organs can affect each other, Healy suggests linking up the different organoids in the lab.

"We start to couple different organs on a chip. Let's say the heart, liver, lung, GI tract; whatever. We see this integration of the different organs critical for understanding drugs affecting the heart, but metabolites of that drug that also may be affecting the liver and other tissues."

The simulated heart is expected to help streamline the testing of cardiac drugs.

Have you heard of organoids? These are mini 3D models made to mimic the physiology of various organs, from the stomach to the brain. A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley recently created an organoid system for the heart using heart cells grown from human stem cells. Bioengineering professor Kevin Healy says their small cardiac chip can be used for drug screening and studies on early heart development.

"We have of course, the cells derived from the heart. But we don't have blood vessels from the heart. We don't have other aspects like heart valve tissue."

To show how different organs can affect each other, Healy suggests linking up the different organoids in the lab.

"We start to couple different organs on a chip. Let's say the heart, liver, lung, GI tract; whatever. We see this integration of the different organs critical for understanding drugs affecting the heart, but metabolites of that drug that also may be affecting the liver and other tissues."

The simulated heart is expected to help streamline the testing of cardiac drugs.

Saturated fats do more than just make a person pack on calories. Endocrinologist Suneil Koliwad of the University of California, San Francisco found that saturated fats essentially short-circuit immune cells called macrophages, preventing them from cleaning up overwhelmed fat storage cells when a person is obese.

"Obesity is fundamentally the manifestation of the enlargement of fat cells in the body that expand as they fill up with fats that are taken in from the diet. And we’ve become interested in how macrophages change their activation state, when confronted by lipids that are present at high levels, most notably, in the context of obesity."

Koliwad looked at both mouse and human macrophages, and found that saturated fats triggered a pathway to inflammation different than that activated by an infection. There may be something worth studying in terms of how obesity produces inflammation that might be able to get at the mechanism of how diabetes takes root.

Have you heard of organoids? These are mini 3D models made to mimic the physiology of various organs, from the stomach to the brain. A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley recently created an organoid system for the heart using heart cells grown from human stem cells. Bioengineering professor Kevin Healy says their small cardiac chip can be used for drug screening and studies on early heart development.

"We have of course, the cells derived from the heart. But we don't have blood vessels from the heart. We don't have other aspects like heart valve tissue."

To show how different organs can affect each other, Healy suggests linking up the different organoids in the lab.

"We start to couple different organs on a chip. Let's say the heart, liver, lung, GI tract; whatever. We see this integration of the different organs critical for understanding drugs affecting the heart, but metabolites of that drug that also may be affecting the liver and other tissues."

The simulated heart is expected to help streamline the testing of cardiac drugs.

How does the Zika virus enter a developing baby’s brain? Neurologist Arnold Kriegstein and his team at the University of California, San Francisco recently found that the receptor protein used by Zika to cause a skin rash also sits on the surface of some developing neurons. The protein acts as a channel into what’s known as radial glial cells.

"This is a cell type that actually produces most of the nerve cells, the neurons, and also the associated cells in the developing brain, and it’s also the cell type that’s been implicated in genetic causes of microcephaly."

The team grew brain tissue in petri dishes and sent fluorescently labeled proteins into the samples. The glowing proteins then honed in on the these radial glial cells, pinpointing the receptors.

"Whether the virus is going through the bloodstream in the fetus, or if it’s going through the cerebral spinal fluid, it can directly access these radial glial cells. So it looked as though this receptor was a smoking gun. It seems to be in the right place at the right time, to explain the symptoms that we’ve been hearing about in Brazil."

How does the Zika virus enter a developing baby’s brain? Neurologist Arnold Kriegstein and his team at the University of California, San Francisco recently found that the receptor protein used by Zika to cause a skin rash also sits on the surface of some developing neurons. The protein acts as a channel into what’s known as radial glial cells.

"This is a cell type that actually produces most of the nerve cells, the neurons, and also the associated cells in the developing brain, and it’s also the cell type that’s been implicated in genetic causes of microcephaly."

The team grew brain tissue in petri dishes and sent fluorescently labeled proteins into the samples. The glowing proteins then honed in on the these radial glial cells, pinpointing the receptors.

"Whether the virus is going through the bloodstream in the fetus, or if it’s going through the cerebral spinal fluid, it can directly access these radial glial cells. So it looked as though this receptor was a smoking gun. It seems to be in the right place at the right time, to explain the symptoms that we’ve been hearing about in Brazil."

How does the Zika virus enter a developing baby’s brain? Neurologist Arnold Kriegstein and his team at the University of California, San Francisco recently found that the receptor protein used by Zika to cause a skin rash also sits on the surface of some developing neurons. The protein acts as a channel into what’s known as radial glial cells.

"This is a cell type that actually produces most of the nerve cells, the neurons, and also the associated cells in the developing brain, and it’s also the cell type that’s been implicated in genetic causes of microcephaly."

The team grew brain tissue in petri dishes and sent fluorescently labeled proteins into the samples. The glowing proteins then honed in on the these radial glial cells, pinpointing the receptors.

"Whether the virus is going through the bloodstream in the fetus, or if it’s going through the cerebral spinal fluid, it can directly access these radial glial cells. So it looked as though this receptor was a smoking gun. It seems to be in the right place at the right time, to explain the symptoms that we’ve been hearing about in Brazil."

One of the problems with space exploration is that there’s limited room for astronauts to take a lot of medical diagnostic equipment with them. But now, thanks to scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NASA astronauts journeying deep into space may be able to give themselves a health check-up with a small, handheld diagnostic device. Senior research scientist Matthew Coleman says it’s revolutionary in that it can work with different types of sample streams.

"We’re actually working on three different sample types. Two are non-invasive. So, one is saliva and the other one is actually breath. Then the third sample we’re looking at is blood."

Coleman says their goal is to validate a workable prototype on the ground and then for space flight testing.

"We have a patent filed and now we’re seeking funding to actually put it all together and develop the workable, clinically testable prototype."

One of the problems with space exploration is that there’s limited room for astronauts to take a lot of medical diagnostic equipment with them. But now, thanks to scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NASA astronauts journeying deep into space may be able to give themselves a health check-up with a small, handheld diagnostic device. Senior research scientist Matthew Coleman says it’s revolutionary in that it can work with different types of sample streams.

"We’re actually working on three different sample types. Two are non-invasive. So, one is saliva and the other one is actually breath. Then the third sample we’re looking at is blood."

Coleman says their goal is to validate a workable prototype on the ground and then for space flight testing.

"We have a patent filed and now we’re seeking funding to actually put it all together and develop the workable, clinically testable prototype."

One of the problems with space exploration is that there’s limited room for astronauts to take a lot of medical diagnostic equipment with them. But now, thanks to scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NASA astronauts journeying deep into space may be able to give themselves a health check-up with a small, handheld diagnostic device. Senior research scientist Matthew Coleman says it’s revolutionary in that it can work with different types of sample streams.

"We’re actually working on three different sample types. Two are non-invasive. So, one is saliva and the other one is actually breath. Then the third sample we’re looking at is blood."

Coleman says their goal is to validate a workable prototype on the ground and then for space flight testing.

"We have a patent filed and now we’re seeking funding to actually put it all together and develop the workable, clinically testable prototype."