Latest research

We are developing and characterising highly flexible cell culture platforms that can be used to investigate a wide range of respiratory and infectious conditions. We are investigating if laboratory lung infections in 3D models better recapitulate in vivo events in comparison to traditional 2D systems.

Organoids are complex, self-organizing microtissues grown embedded within 3-D extracellular matrix. Organoids may contain multiple differentiated cell types, exhibit cellular polarization, and often possess a central lumen and other in vivo–like architectural features. Organoids are capable of long-term expansion in culture while remaining phenotypically and genetically stable. Primary patient-derived organoids have been described for various tissues, healthy and cancerous, including colon, intestine, stomach, breast, esophagus, lung, liver, prostate, and pancreas. Organoids are invaluable preclinical models for studying cancer and offer many advantages over existing human or non-human animal cancer models.