Organoids Are Us Symposium

Researchers have developed them from a vast array of organs, including the gut, stomach, liver, brain and kidneys to understand how tissues develop and repair.

Organoids established from healthy tissues are proving to be excellent models of authentic infection as they recapitulate the essential features of organs. Organoids can also be generated from tumour cells to mimic cancers and help predict how an individual will respond to a drug – making personalised medicine a reality.

This symposium includes talks by researchers using organoid technology to advance our understanding of stem cells, development and human disease.

This hybrid event can be attended in-person at WEHI or viewed online.

Tony Burgess Oration

• Prof Ramanuj DasGupta – Genome Institute of Singapore, Singapore. Introduced by Prof Doug Hilton, Director of WEHI

Keynote speakers

• Prof Christine Wells – University of Melbourne, VIC Australia
• Prof Stefan Liebau – Institute of Neuroanatomy and Developmental Biology, Tubingen, Germany

Invited speakers include

• A/Prof Selma Masri, University of California, Irvine, CA USA
• Dr Ahmad Nabhan, Genentech, CA USA
• Dr Nathan Godde, CSIRO, Geelong, VIC, Australia
• A/Prof Silvia Velasco, MCRI, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
• A/Prof Mirella Dottori, Wollongong University, NSW, Australia
• A/Prof Kaylene Simpson, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC, Australia

Invited ECR/MCR speakers

• Dr Jessica Vanslambrouck, junior post-doctoral fellow, Little laboratory, MCRI, VIC, Australia
• Robin Wagner, MSc student, Hollande laboratory, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia
• Dr Chuan Kok Lim, PhD student, Beard laboratory, University of Adelaide, SA, Australia
• Dr Dustin Flanagan, Laboratory Head, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

To encourage engagement throughout the symposium we invite everyone to Tweet throughout the event using #OrganoidsAreUs

Organoids, a new journal dedicated to “all things” organoids, is sponsoring the 2022 Organoids Are Us Symposium by publishing a Special Issue dedicated to the symposium – articles will be peer reviewed and published free of charge. This invitation for free publication is open to all registrants of the symposium (virtual or in-house).

Information on the feature issue is at the link below: www.mdpi.com/journal/organoids/special_issues/X145PGUKBM

Event information

Registration is $80.00 full price and $40.00 for students and includes morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea for in-person attendees.

If you are feeling unwell on the day, please do not attend this event in person, instead view online. WEHI recommends wearing a mask while visiting the institute where social distancing is not possible.

Registrations close for in-person attendees at 12pm (AEST) Thursday 28 July and for online attendees at 5pm (AEST) Monday 1 August.

All event links will be sent to attendees on Monday 1 August.

Direct any queries to:

Prof Elizabeth Vincan (evincan@unimelb.edu.au)

Dr Maree Faux (maree.faux@mcri.edu.au)

Prof Marc Pellegrini (pellegrini@wehi.edu.au)

Prof Joe Torresi (josepht@unimelb.edu.au)

Program:

9.00 – 10.30 am Session 1 – Wnt, Stem Cells and Cancer

Chair: Elizabeth Williams/Fred Hollande

9.00 – 9.15am

Welcome and Introduction: Elizabeth Vincan (Doherty Institute, VIC)

9.15 – 9.45am Selma Masri (University of California, Irvine, CA, USA) Wnt Signalling, Circadian Rhythms, and Colon Cancer: Lessons Learned from Mouse and Human Organoids

9.45 – 10.00am Dustin Flanagan (Monash University, VIC) Go for Goldilocks: manipulating cell competition and signalling in the intestinal crypt

10.00-10.30am Ahmad Nabhan (Genentech, CA, USA) Dissecting and sculpting alveolar regeneration with tailored Fzd agonists

10.30 – 11.00am Morning tea

11.00 – 1:00 pm Session 2 – Development and Disease I Chair: Joe Torresi/Marc Pellegrini

11.00 – 11.30 am Kaylene Simpson (Peter MacCallum, VCCC, VIC) High throughput 3D - for characterisation and discovery

11.30 – 12.00 Nathan Godde (Australia Centre for Disease Preparedness, CSIRO, Geelong) The sySTEMs Initiative: Developing a multi-tissue platform to screen approved drugs as COVID-19 treatments

12.00 – 12.15 Chuan Kok Lim (Doherty Institute, VIC) Hepatotropic Viral Infections

12.15-1.00 Keynote I Christine Wells (University of Melbourne, VIC) New Models of Human Myeloid Biology Chair: Mirella Dottori

1.00 – 1.45 pm Lunch

1.45 – 3.15 pm Session 3 – Development and Disease II Chair: Alice Pebay/Abdou Hachani

1.45 - 2.30 pm Keynote II Stefan Liebau (Institute of Neuroanatomy & Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany) A road to physiological models - driving the retinal organoid Chair: Alice Pebay

2.30 – 2.45 pm Jessica Vanslambrouk (MCRI) Enhancing kidney organoids for disease research and treatment

2.45 - 3.15 pm Mirella Dottori (University of Wollongong, NSW) Modelling mechanosensation using stem cells and its application for treating peripheral neuropathies

3.15 - 3.45pm Afternoon tea

3.45 - 5.30pm Session 4 – Development and Disease Chair: Doug Hilton/Maree Faux

3.45 - 4.00pm Robin Wagner (University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research, VCCC, VIC) Organoids as a platform to characterise tumour/NK cell interactions in colorectal cancer

4.00 – 4.30pm Silvia Velasco (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, VIC) Organoid models to study human brain development and disease

4.30 - 5.30pm “The Tony Burgess Oration” Ram DasGupta (Singapore) Tumour evolution: “through the looking glass of single cells” Introduction: Doug Hilton (WEHI, VIC)

5.30 - 5.35 pm Close: Maree Faux ECR Prize (sponsored by Bio-Strategy) and Next meeting announcements