Intestinal Organoids as Research Tool in Nutrition, Toxicology and Microbiology

Supervisor: Dr Silvia Gratz (Rowett Institute of Nutrition & Health)

The lining of the intestinal epithelium acts as the site of absorption of nutrients from the diet and the first line of defence against dietary toxins and food-borne pathogens. The epithelium is composed of four sub-types of cells, absorptive enterocytes, Paneth cells, mucus secreting goblet cells and enteroendocrine cells to release satiety hormones from the gut in response to diet.

Studying the epithelium of the small and large intestine has long been limited to few cell lines which only represent a single cell type. Now with the emergence of intestinal organoid cultures a new research tool is available to study responses of all intestinal cells in their more natural 3D structure to dietary constituents.

The current project aims to establish a permanent intestinal organoid culture as a research tool for screening cellular responses to nutrients, bioactives and xenobiotics.

This project is based on tissue culture techniques. Intestinal organoids derived from small and large intestine will be used. Histochemical, biochemical and molecular biology techniques will be applied to assess responses of intestinal organoids and applicability as a model of intestinal tissues.

Application:

Please select ’Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Human Nutrition (Medicine)’ from the list of programme options in the University of Aberdeen’s online postgraduate applicant portal to ensure that your application is passed to the correct school for processing. Then manually enter the name of the supervisor(s), project title and funder (Elphinstone) in the space provided.