Disease Modeling for Drug Discovery: IBD and Metabolic Disease
Established IBD and adipose tissue organoid models for anti-inflammatory compound screening and metabolic disease research.
Challenge
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and metabolic diseases lack physiologically relevant human models for drug screening, limiting the translation of preclinical findings.
Approach
IBD: Intestinal organoid models were established and challenged with pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNFalpha, IL-1beta, IL-6). Barrier integrity was assessed by TEER measurement and ZO-1 staining.
Metabolic: Adipose tissue organoids were differentiated into brown adipose tissue (BAT) over 14-21 days.
Results:
IBD: Anti-inflammatory compounds demonstrated dose-dependent restoration of barrier integrity (TEER) and goblet cell function.
Metabolic: BAT organoids demonstrated functional thermogenic capacity, enabling screening of compounds targeting metabolic disease.
Implication
Demonstrates the versatility of our platform beyond oncology, opening new opportunities in inflammatory and metabolic disease drug discovery.