Eileen Gentleman group

Research

Intestinal organoids to explore ECM remodelling in Crohn’s disease

Crohn’s patients often develop fibrosis, in which the extracellular matrix (ECM) around the gut tube stiffens; but it remains unclear if ECM changes are a consequence of inflammation or if they contribute to disease pathology. This project aims to create a Crohn’s model ‘in-a-dish’ by combining synthetic hydrogels that allow for ECM remodelling with intestinal organoids differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Using proteomic and microrheological techniques, we explore how modulating peri-organoid ECM composition affects epithelial susceptibility to inflammation, providing mechanistic insights into IBD pathology and potentially facilitating the development of novel therapeutic strategies.

Bioengineering approaches to modulate neuroepithelial organoid phenotype

Untangling the physiochemical and morphological processes that control human development are important for gaining a more complete understanding of physiology and disease. The neural tube is the embryonic precursor to the central nervous system and arises from patterning driven by morphogen gradients. However, recent evidence suggests that physical cues also impact patterning in the developing neuroepithelium, but are difficult to untangle. This project aims to explore the role of physical cues in establishing patterning neuroepithelial organoids.

Advanced hydrogels to study matrix remodelling in vitro

Modelling developmental, physiological and pathological processes in human tissues requires 3D materials that can mimic the native ECM and the dynamic processes that occur with it. This project aims to create a suite of biomaterials and bioengineering tools that can provide controlled biological and biophysical cues to encapsulated cells. We create hydrogels based on PEGs, hyaluronic acid and alginates and develop tools to monitor matrix remodelling in these complex 3D systems.

Members

Eileen Gentleman, Group Leader

Eileen received her PhD from Tulane University (USA) in Biomedical Engineering in 2005, and did her postdoctoral work with Prof Molly Stevens at Imperial College London. In 2011, she was awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship and moved to King's College London, where she is currently Professor of Bioengineering. In 2023, she joined the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University Lausanne. Her research focuses on developing biomaterials to modulate the physical and biological properties of the 3D cell niche to control stem cell differentiation for tissue engineering and disease modelling.

Tamara Fawzi, PhD student

Tamara obtained her bachelor’s in biomedical science from the University of Birmingham, where she specialised in stem cells and bone-endothelial cell networking in development and disease. Following her degree, Tamara joined the Briscoe Lab at the Francis Crick Institute where she investigated the role of cis regulatory elements in dorsal-ventral patterning of the neural tube. In 2021, she began her NC3R’s PhD studentship at King’s College London as part of Eileen Gentleman’s lab, where her focus is on modelling extracellular matrix cues in fibrotic inflammatory bowel disease by combining iPSC-derived human intestinal organoids and PEG synthetic hydrogels. She now continues her PhD research at UNIL.

Chunling Tang, Postdoc

Chunling Tang is working on 3D organoid modelling and bioengineering. He earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Science in 2020 at the Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His academic journey spans from investigating breast development and cancer mechanisms to advancing organoid technology. He has explored topics such as 3D organoid interfacial regulation, mammary gland organoid formation, and signalling pathway modulation. Notable achievements include developing innovative hydrogel platforms for organoid modelling, elucidating the role of molecule in mammary gland development, and real-time monitoring of cellular activities using cutting-edge imaging techniques. Currently, Chunling's research focuses on understanding early developmental process of central nervous system by using hiPSCs derived neural tube organoid model and applying designed extracellular cues to guide these organoids formation via bioengineering approaches.

Alicja Kuziola, PhD student

Alicja earned her Master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology from the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland, in 2013. She is currently pursuing a PhD at King’s College London in the Centre for Craniofacial & Regenerative Biology. Her work focuses on developing tuneable PEG-based synthetic matrices to study biomechanical processes critical to disease progression. She is investigating the development of fibrosis in the context of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and exploring how extracellular matrix properties influence the development of neuroepithelial organoids. As a visiting student in Lausanne, she will continue her research, focusing on identifying new drug targets for treating fibrosis in IBD. Alicja is deeply passionate about translational science and scaling up innovative solutions to bridge the gap between lab discoveries and patient care. She hopes her work can contribute to creating better in vitro models for drug development and testing.

Emilie Fistola, Master’s student

Émilie obtained her bachelor in genetics and cell biology in Lyon (France) and then moved to Lausanne to pursue a Master in medical biology, more specifically in cancer and immunology. She has previously completed two different research internships in cancer field. The first focused on BMP genes expression in blood stem cells following benzene exposure, while the second involved neoantigen screening in bladder cancer. Now, she is a part of Prof. Eileen Gentlemen’s team as a master’s student. Her project consists of modeling fibrosis in Crohn’s Disease by using human intestinal organoids and synthetic hydrogels. This way, her goal is to help developing a powerful in vitro model to explore Crohn’s Disease mechanisms in human cells, which could lead to more efficient drug screening in the future.