Modeling the Digestive Tract using Stem Cells
NewsNYSCF – Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Alumna Dr. Shuibing Chen at Weill Cornell Medical School successfully developed a protocol for deriving organoids representing the human digestive tract from stem cells. The scientists derived these ‘colonic organoids’ from both embryonic stem cells and from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from a patient with a genetic digestive tract disease. Utilizing the iPS cells, Dr. Chen and her team further identified a potential treatment for the condition.
Published in Nature Medicine, the protocol for creating the colonic organoids can be used in disease modeling and drug discovery for colorectal disease, including cancer and genetic afflictions.