Hosted by Cardiff University's School of Medicine
Abstract: Human models to study human viral pathogenesis are desirable and this has become possible with the advent of organoid models. Stem cell-derived organotypic models or organoids closely recapitulate the in vivo situation in terms of heterogeneity and organization of cell types. Human gut, airway, and brain organoids have been applied in my laboratory for studying pathogenesis of several human viruses such as enteroviruses and parechoviruses. These viruses belong to the family of Picornaviruses and are causing a broad spectrum of diseases in humans, from mild respiratory or gastrointestinal symptoms to severe disease like infections of the central nervous system. The human picornaviruses comprise of a large group of virus genotypes that differ in disease association and epidemiology. By using human airway and gut epithelial cultures and brain organoids we have studied differences in viral replication, cell tropism and host responses between different picornavirus genotypes. In my talk, I will further highlight the potential of human organoids as suitable models for studying pathogenesis of human virus infections.
Biography: Prof. Katja Wolthers is a senior clinical virologist, associate professor and Principal Investigator, head of the OrganoVIR Labs at the Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC), chair of the Clinical Virology section of the Dept Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention, and founder of the Organoid Center of the Amsterdam UMC.
She is an expert in organoids for virus research with a special focus on human picornaviruses. She has coordinated several EU consortia such as the innovative Horizon 2020 training program OrganoVIR: ‘Organoids for Virus research’. Currently she is heading the Next Generation Organ-on-Chip consortium GUTVIBRATIONS. Her aim is to develop ‘human-body-in-the-lab’ infection models for virus pathogenesis. Another major interest of Katja is animal-free research. She is an active member of the Dutch network ‘Transition towards animal-free innovations’ and teaches Animal Free Innovations in several university courses.
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