Kick-off TOPGut MSCA-doctoral network

At TU Berlin we enjoyed a fantastic and fun kick-off event of the TOP GUT consortium. With tthe aim to develop Gut-on-a-Chip systems incorporating all facets relevant in cancer development and chronic disease, ideas and plans were actively discussed. Faranak Heidari presented her project at the Utrecht University with Dr. Silvia Mihaila and Roos Masereeuw in collaboration with the Vercoulen lab where she will engineer crypt-villi patterns in a gut-barrier on a chip system using organoids.. This project will promote availability of in vitro models to study immune-epitheilial, microbiome-, and epitheilial-stromal interactions, as well as permeability and absorption of the mucosal barrier in cancer and Inflammatory Bowel Disease and test mechanisms of therapy response vs resistance. We are excited to start working in this exciting consortium and push the limits to improve in vitro model systems.