Abstract

The first talk will focus on cerebral organoids, which are a novel, 3D in-vitro method of studying the human brain. Iva will present the organoid methodology and the recent developments which have used the technique to answer questions about the human brain. She will discuss the potential of the method and the directions that the field might take, in order to bring the cerebral organoids even closer to the complex in vivo processes by which the human brain is built.

The second talk will focus on hepatic organoids. Despite the enormous replication potential of the liver, there are currently no culture systems available that sustain hepatocyte replication in vitro. Meritxell will discuss the novel liver stem cell culture system in her lab where mouse liver stem cells can be indefinitely expanded in vitro (for > 1 year), into “liver organoids”. We have now further developed our culture system to study human liver stem cells and human liver disease.