Metabolic Imaging & Tissue engineering Group News

  Increased micro- and nanoplastic (MNP) pollution and its poorly understood biomedical impact raises questions on their cell and tissue uptake mechanisms and effects on the absorptive tissues. Dmitriev’s team reports a new microscopy-based approach to perform dynamic imaging of dye-modified micro- and nanoplastics (MNP). When combined with stem cell-derived intestinal organoids, with controlled apical and basal polarity, this approach enables for sensitive detection and quantification of MNPs, their internalization and biological effects.  The work was published in Light: Science & Applications , big thanks to all collaborators and researchers involved, especially Irina, Hang (first 'big paper' in PhD) and Bert! We hope to get this research line funded and expand towards studying effects of MNPs on the brain, tooth development and other tissues! Press-release on Eurekalert (14-09-2025)  

      In our new study (collaboration between Ghent University and Rousselot BV) we report application of GelMA (gelatin methacryloyl) hydrogels with tuneable mechanical properties and added laminin to the culture of the small intestinal organoids. We found that mechanical properties alone are not sufficient for basement membrane support, resulting in polarity reversion, in contrast to the Matrigel-grown cultures. Altogether, observed polarity reversion phenomenon highlights importance of the further research in biochemical factors, directing cell polarity in the epithelial cells, while it also provides a tractable way for producing 'apical-out' organoids. Congratulations to Lenie (for her work on this MSc research project), Irina (for her supervision and driving force), Thomas and Ruben for expertise with gelatins and Bert for expertise with pig intestinal organoids. The work has been published in the Journal of Tissue Engineering (Open Access): https://journals.sagepub...

Wow, time really does fly! It's been a while since our previous update but by no means our team was idle.  End of 2024 was memorable with exciting conferences, including SPAOM 2024, Histochemical Society Annual online meeting 2024, FHERITALE consortium and others! We've received funding to study neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases (more news soon) so we can plan new & exciting research projects. Our team currently hosts 2 international researchers, Valerie Cote and Dr. Simone Perottoni, both learning and doing exciting science in FLIM, organoids and imaging of cancer cells / tissues. In addition, we are looking forward to host more of PhD students from FLIMagin3D consortium! Here are some recent publications, from our team and collaborative research projects: Sheehan A, Okkelman IA, Groslambert G, Bucher C, Dmitriev RI, Filatov MA: Optoelectronic Properties and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Application of Donor-Acceptor Dyads Derived From 2,6-DicarboxyBODIPY ...

Prof. R. Dmitriev will participate in online event 'See the hidden: discover more with FLIM' on 10-Oct-2024! More info & registration can be found here: https://events.bitesizebio.com/see-the-hidden-discover-more-with/join