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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 33: Focus session: Physics of organoids
BP 33.6: Talk
Thursday, March 21, 2024, 16:45–17:00, H 1028
DNA microbeads for spatio-temporally controlled morphogen release within organoids — •Tobias Walther1,2, Cassian Afting3, Joachim Wittbrodt3, and Kerstin Göpfrich1,2 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für medizinische Forschung, Jahnstraße 29, 69120 Heidelberg — 2Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie der Universität Heidelberg, INF 329, 69120 Heidelberg — 3Centre for Organismal Studies Heidelberg, INF 230, 69120 Heidelberg
To this day, organoids across types and species fail to reach full maturity and function. A key reason for this is that current organoid culture methods lack spatial organization of the biochemical cues provided to guide organoids. Here, we introduce stiffness adaptable DNA microbeads as a novel tool for implementing spatio-temporally controllable sources of morphogen into organoids at any point in their life cycle. Employing medaka retinal organoids, we show that DNA microbeads can be integrated into organoids via microinjection and be non-invasively erased by light-triggered breakdown. Coupling a recombinant surrogate Wnt to the DNA microbeads nanostructure allowed its temporally controllable release from the microinjection site. We were thus able to bioengineer retinal organoids more closely mirroring the cell type diversity of in vivo retinas. While this work presents a first application, this technology is straightforward to adapt to other organoid applications and does not require specialized equipment for usage
Keywords: DNA microbeads; retinal organoids; cargo release; signal molecule gradient; tissue engineering