Periodic Reporting for period 1 - fetISC (Characterizing drivers of intestinal tissue maturation in vitro and in vivo)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2016-02-01 do 2018-01-31
BASIC RESEARCH:
During the development of this project we have identified the place and the time where intestinal stem cells are specified during development as well as the mechanism driving this process. Our results demonstrate that large scale tissue remodelling and cell fate specification are intertwined processes. These findings provide a direct link between the observed plasticity and cellular reprogramming of differentiating cells in adult tissue following damage, revealing that stem cell identity is an induced rather than a hardwired property.Moreover we have identified several cellular populations in the fetal intestinal epithelium with engraftment and regenerative potential. Importantly we have identified the unique molecular and epigenetic properties of foetal and adult intestinal cells that we have validated with human foetal samples from abortions. This has been crucial in order to validate the conservation of mechanism identified.
RESULTS DISSEMINATION:
The results of this project have been shown in several scientific conferences including:
-The Stem cell Niche Conference 2018. Hillerød. Contribution: Oral presentation. Title: Tracing the origin of adult intestinal stem cells.
-International Society for Stem Cell Research-ISSCR 2017 (Innovation Showcase, Stem Cell Technologies). Boston. Contribution: Oral presentation. Title: Origin and Ancestry of Intestinal Stem Cells Precursors.
-Keystone Symposia: Stem Cells and Regeneration in the Digestive Organs 2016. Keystone. Contribution: Poster presentation. Title: Modelling human intestinal development in vitro. Authors: Jordi Guiu, Marianne T. Pedersen, Ludovic Vallier, Kim Jensen.
Moreover we expect to published the results in Peer reviewed journals. The first part of the work regarding origin and specification of intestinal stem cells was submitted and we expect to submit a second manuscript this year regarding molecular and epigenetic properties of foetal and adult intestinal cells. Additionally to this we have published a review emphasising the relevance of understanding intestinal development.
COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT:
Through the development of the project we have shown and explained some of our results as well as technical expertise to the general public in order to rise the general awareness and communicate the importance of our research. Moreover I have provided coursed for young and future researchers.
-Workshops addressed to High school teachers, where we showed and provided a hands-on training where they learned how to generated 3D intestinal stem cell cultures.
-Hands-on course for high school talented students where we showed the resistance of tumor and normal cells to radiotherapy.
-Supervision of a master student project.
-Provide state of the art knowledge in imaging and 3D analysis to PhD training course.