University of Chicago Big Ideas Generator

Project

Big Question: No Cell Left Behind: Using Embryoid Bodies to Understand Human Biology

University of Chicago Big Questions

Principal Investigator: Yoav Gilad, Genetics & Medicine

Funding Type: Vision

Big Idea: The pace of genetic discovery is fundamentally limited by access to relevant human tissues. Most human studies are restricted to easily accessible tissues or to post-mortem samples, because it is impossible or unethical to collect most human tissues or cell types. The discovery that mature human cells can be transformed into stem cells was an important step in solving this problem. Stem cells provide a renewable source of human tissue that can, in theory, develop into any cell type. In practice, however, it can take years to discover how to produce any single tissue from stem cells. At the nexus of stem cell biology and emerging single-cell technologies, there is an opportunity to generate and study many, or even most, human cell types simultaneously, all within a single dish. When grown in the proper conditions, stem cells form spontaneously differentiating organoids known as embryoid bodies. Single cell technologies allow us to disentangle these complex organoids, transforming embryoid bodies into a renewable source of a multitude of human cells. Our study will determine whether embryoid bodies can be used to model adult cells. If so, embryoid bodies will transform the paradigm of functional genetics in humans.

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