McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Ipsita Banerjee, PhD (pictured), Professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, is the co-author of a journal article entitled, “De novo construction of T cell compartment in humanized mice engrafted with iPSC-derived thymus organoids,” which appeared in
Nature Methods. Dr. Banerjee’s research interests and collaborations include:
- pluripotent stem cells
- systems modeling of signaling pathways
- biomanufacturing of pluripotent stem cells
- pancreatic islet organoid engineering
- organ engineering
- nanotoxicity evaluation
The abstract of the
Nature Methods paper follows:
Hematopoietic humanized (hu) mice are powerful tools for modeling the action of human immune system and are widely used for preclinical studies and drug discovery. However, generating a functional human T cell compartment in hu mice remains challenging, primarily due to the species-related differences between human and mouse thymus. While engrafting human fetal thymic tissues can support robust T cell development in hu mice, tissue scarcity and ethical concerns limit their wide use. Here, we describe the tissue engineering of human thymus organoids from inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSC-thymus) that can support the de novo generation of a diverse population of functional human T cells. T cells of iPSC-thymus-engrafted hu mice could mediate both cellular and humoral immune responses, including mounting robust proinflammatory responses on T cell receptor engagement, inhibiting allogeneic tumor graft growth and facilitating efficient Ig class switching. Our findings indicate that hu mice engrafted with iPSC-thymus can serve as a new animal model to study human T cell-mediated immunity and accelerate the translation of findings from animal studies into the clinic.
Illustration: University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering.
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Bio: Dr. Ipsita Banerjee
Abstract (Nature Methods (2022).)