Human Brain Organoids Facility (HBOF)

Brain organoids are 3D self-organising, complex structures of different regions of the brain, which are used as in vitro models to study brain development and brain disorders. We have established the protocols (Gkogkas lab) to generate forebrain (dorsal and ventral) and midbrain organoids from human pluripotent stem cells (induced; iPSC or embryonic; ESC).

Dorsal Forebrain Organoids enriched in Excitatory neurons	Ventral Forebrain Organoids enriched in Inhibitory neurons	Midbrain Organoids enriched in dopaminergic neurons	Generation of human brain organoids from pluripotent stem cells

Infrastructure

Projects that the HBOF undertakes:     Precision Medicine Applications     Basic/Pre-clinical Research     Compound Screening     Novel Therapeutics     Toxicology     Biomarker Discovery     Diagnostics Applications

This facility includes: 2 incubators dedicated for work with brain organoids, a biosafety flow cabinet and and an EVOS™ XL Core Imaging System for visualization and imaging. The facility also includes bioreactors for large-scale preparations (>1000 brain organoids), automated cell counting (Countess 3 Automated Cell Counter) and gene-expression analysis with RT-qPCR (ARIA-Mx, Agilent).

Contact

References

Regulation of mRNA translation in stem cells; links to brain disorders.
Statoulla E, Chalkiadaki K, Karozis D, Gkogkas CG.Cell Signal. 2021 Dec;88:110166.
doi: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2021.110166.

Translational control in neurovascular brain development.
Chalkiadaki K, Statoulla E & Gkogkas CG.R Soc Open Sci. 2021 Oct 13;8(10):211088.
doi: 10.1098/rsos.211088. eCollection 2021 Oct.