Human Therapeutic Organoid Core (located at Weill Cornell Medicine) Leadership Shuibing Chen, PhD Director Location: Weill Cornell Medicine shc2034@med.cornell.edu Lauretta Lacko, PhD Director Location: Weill Cornell Medicine lal2018@med.cornell.edu Overview Organoids are complex, self-organizing three-dimensional structures that accurately recapitulate key aspects of normal organ development and function. The Human Therapeutic Organoid Core (HTOC) facility provides services for investigators involving the generation, banking, distribution, and analyses of human organoids derived from both hPSC and human autopsy or biopsy tissues. Although the HTOC primarily focuses on pancreatic islets, colon, and small intestine organoids, the Core also has the capacity to generate other organoid systems, including the brain, stomach and hepatocyte organoids. Objectives Store and distribute organoids derived from hPSCs to new and established NYR-DRC faculty laboratories. hPSC derived organoids are generated following an initial consultation meeting and agreement between investigators and HTOC operations manager and/or HTOC Director. Store and distribute organoid cell systems derived from human autopsy/biopsy samples to new and established NYR-DRC faculty laboratories. Tissue derived organoid banks have been generated and quality tested. Following an initial consultation meeting and agreement between investigators and HTOC operations manager and/or HTOC Director,oOrganoids are then thawed, expanded, and distributed. Provide investigators quality control and specific analyses of organoid differentiation efficiency, phenotypic characterization, and function. HTOC offers organoid analyses services that include morphological characterization, differentiation efficiency, immunostaining and qRT-PCR analyses, and functional assays such as glucose stimulated insulin secretion. Following the initial consultation meeting and agreement between investigators and HTOC operations manager and/or HTOC Director, the project is initiated. Facilitate distribution of costly organoid reagents at affordable rates Expensive hPSC and organoid reagents often deter or inhibit investigators from engaging in this cutting-edge technology. HTOC works closely with vendors and stocks and distributes these reagents at affordable rates. Provide expertise in research design, experimental implementation, and grant application support and Assist investigators by providing education, consultation and training services to staff, students, fellows. The HTOC offers project consultation and advice on experimental and research design for support in experimental procedures and grant application. Initial consultations discuss potential projects and feasibility with investigators. Initial consultations are complimentary, but continued support with significant time commitment and more than three meetings will be subject to a fee. Services Provided The services of this Core are available to investigators new to diabetes research, as well as to investigators working on diabetes-related projects that can be enriched and extended by the use of the expertise and facilities of this Core. Isolation and preparation of human and rodent islets/beta cells and cell lines for investigator-initiated research, which is augmented by the availability of specific islet/beta cell biological assays for the study of beta cell growth, regeneration, survival, immunobiology and function Generation of specific viral vectors (adenovirus and lentivirus) for gene delivery of cDNAs and shRNAs of interest to beta cells and other islet cell types. In addition, we will provide viral vectors for transduction of other cell types and tissues under investigation for non-beta cell/islet investigators. Hours: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Locations: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Berg Laboratory Building Floor 5th Floor Room AB5-10 1428 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10029 Phone: Adolfo Garcia-Ocana, PhD, 212.241.9793 Email: adolfo.garcia-ocana@mssm.edu
