Professor at Utrecht University, advisor at Hubrecht Institute and Princess Máxima Center. Head of Pharma Research and Early Development at Roche from 18-3-22
Entered my first academic lab in 1978. Fond memories of >40 years in science with great colleagues at public institutions in Kenya, the US and in my country, the Netherlands. Excited to step into the pharma world as head of research/early development at Roche, Basel in March
Today I start my new role
@Roche
as Head of pRED. Excited to take on this new challenge and work alongside brilliant people to translate
#science
into revolutionary medicines that can change patients’ lives.
#Innovation
#Research
A bispecific
#antibody
which distinguishes
#cancer
cells from healthy cells, doesn't care about
#KRAS
mutations & was developed entirely on human cancer
#organoids
. In 3 years from drawing board to clinic. Congrats to all collaborators. Read:
Growing human tear gland
#organoids
and making them cry... 😢
Done by PhD students Marie Bannier and Yorick Post in collaboration with Saskia Imhoff and ophthalmology colleagues at
#UMCutrecht
. See:
Reptilian tissues can be grown as
#organoids
. See paper by Yorick Post et al in
#Cell
today. Snake
#venom
gland
#organoids
produce a full complement of toxins. Step towards improved treatment of
#snakebite
, known to kill 100,000 people yearly?
First-in-man clinical trial in post-radiation cancer patients with dry mouth and consequent severe damage to the oral cavity. Transplantation with salivary gland
#organoids
, developed by Rob Coppes c.s. at UMCG Groningen, Netherlands. Starts this summer!
Today we announce Roche's Institute of Human Biology in Basel, a bridge between academia and industry.
#TeamIHB
will develop and validate
#organoid
technology for every step of drug development at pRED & beyond to improve patient outcomes.
@IHB_Research
Patient-derived
#cancer
#organoids
hold great promise for personalized medicine. Here, Else Driehuis and Kai Kretzschmar describe how to establish (cancer) organoids and how to test their in vitro sensitivity to anti-cancer therapy
Brief animation of gut stem cells at work. In the center is a villus. 6-8 crypts surround its base. Stem cells reside at the bottom of the crypts of Lieberkuehn. It only take 4-5 days for stem cell daughters to complete their journey to villus tip, after which they sadly die
Deletion of the two alleles of only a single gene (APC) in
#Lgr5
gut
#stemcells
unleashes the
#Wnt
pathway and results in the formation of an adenoma. Also known as polyps, these can evolve into colon cancer.
Shown by Nick Barker et al in
#Nature
doi: 10.1038/nature07602.
Nick Barker discovered Lgr5 as a marker of small cells that hide between the stem cells at the crypt base. Using a genetic trick called linage tracing, he turned one of these little cells blue in a live mouse. Watch what he noted next:
COVID-19: Organoids go viral.
A brief overview of the use of organoids in virology research:
Image: SARS-CoV2 in gut organoids taken bij Joep Beumer (Lamers, Beumer, van der Vaart et al, Cell 2020).
Mamoru Watanabe's lab developed ways to transplant colon organoids to diseased intestines. Toshi Sato expanded a single RFP+ colon stem cell into many organoids. These were infused by Mamoru's people into the colons of mice with experimental colitis. Look what happened
This beautiful animation supports Inha Heo, DJ Dutta et al in Nature microbiology (PMID: 29946163). Made by Luis at Nymus3D, it depicts the life cycle of Cryptosporidium, a pathogen in immunodeficient patients
an image providing the various cell types of the small intestinal epithelium. Note that enteroendocrine cells come in many flavours. The crypt base columnar cell was first described -and proposed to be the stem cell- by Hazel Chang and J.P. Leblond. More about the latter later
A view in a cleanroom at Juntendo University Hospital Tokyo. Prof Watanabe's people are growing autologous colon
#organoids
for
@RegenerativeMedicine
: transplantation of IBD patients. First-in-man trial will happen soon!
Very impressive PhD thesis defense this morning by Joep Beumer. Title: "Constructing roadmaps towards functional cell types using organoids". The diploma is handed over under strict Corona-distancing rules in the historic Utrecht University building.
Got my first AZ
#COVID
#vaccine
shot today. I posted this elated cow from 'our' village Morgins (CH) during the first lockdown in the spring of 2020. Appears much more appropriate at this moment.
💡New Insights! Proud to share our
@ScienceMagazine
research: High-throughput screening in human
#organoids
illuminates ZNF800 as a key factor in differentiation of the gut cells that make hormones like
#GLP1
. Learn more about it here: 🔍
#ScienceDiscovery
How do stem cells form enteroendocrine cells of the gut?
@TheCleversLab
,
@prinsesmaximac
and
@MaastrichtU
used human gut organoids to answer that question and identified ZNF800 as a key regulator. The results were published in Science today!
Read more:
Two of my favourite writers, Michel Houellebecq (photo) and Paul Auster, got the Taobuk Literature Prize at Teatro Antico, Taormina, yesterday. I received the Taobuk DaVinci Prize today. A true case of feeling humbled. I read many of their books. I doubt that they read our papers
Sangho Lim and collaborators report mouse
#thymus
#organoid
lines that can be expanded for years, represent cortex and medulla and sustain T cell development in vitro and in vivo.
@TheCleversLab
Last week’s PhD defense photo of Joep evoked remarks about gender equality at our university given the portraits of 18th century scientists. Kim Boonekamp just defended her PhD proudly. Her picture taken in another university room. Well done, Kim!
Nothing beats real biology. This is a 3D confocal reconstruction of the inner surface of the small intestine. Courtesy of our collaborators at the
#prinsesmaximamac
in Utrecht
Thrilled about our
@CellStemCell
review on adult stem cells (ASCs) with
#TeamIHB
's
@BeumerJoep
. 6 biological hallmarks define their regenerative capabilities and provide insights into tissue-specific strategies for tissue maintenance. Paper👉🏻
1. Adult stem cells (ASCs) compensate for cell loss during daily wear and tear. Evolution has created a variety of stem cell designs. In this review,
@HansClevers
and I define six hallmarks that are key enabling features of the basic function of ASCs, replacing lost tissue.
Who would have thought? Not believed by many when Nick Barker published his paper on
#Lgr5
#stemcells
in 2007, . And now an entire book devoted to these critters...
Left: my little joke on the lab App group, where my colleagues report when lab reagents are running out.
Right: my birthday present from the lab
#peanutbutter
#pindakaas
#maximac
@TheCleversLab
and the
@CancersRare
Team (IARC/WHO) developed the first organoid model for neuroendocrine tumors. During the development of this new model, they already discovered a potential new treatment for pulmonary NETs: .
@TalyaDayton
@nl_alcala
Great study from Yi Miao in Chris Garcia's lab describes a potent engineered protein that engages
#Wnt
receptors and replaces Wnt in
#organoid
medium. It can be used at subnanomolar concentration and is superior to anything we have used previously
Benedetta Artegiani, Delilah Hendriks et al report a highly efficient gene insertion technique for human
@organoids
. The movie gives the example of a tubulin-GFP fusion in hepatocyte organoids. For the complete paper:
Academic researchers from around the world with experience in human in vitro model systems /
#organoids
: If interested to join us, please reach out
@IHB_Research
Last year we opened the Princess Maxima Center, where alle Dutch kids with cancer are treated. Our 300 scientists (growing to ~500) are all working with the doctors towards improved cures for the children. This is the Maxima building in progress, in Utrecht, The Netherlands
Our phD students Cayetano, Jens and Axel explain how a common E coli variant secretes a mutagen and induces a unique mutational signature upon chronic exposure inside gut
#organoids
. This signature also occurs in some colon cancers.
3 Days of 3D, a virtual event on 3D models for academia and industry Nov 10-12. Rob Vries and me give keynotes (pro bono, just so you know). Register at
As a young scientist from Germany, Lieberkuehn defended his discovery of crypts in 1745 at Leiden University in the Netherlands. I discovered his thesis in Museum Boerhaave. Of special note to current PhD students, it covers just 32 pages. It was, however, written in English.
What a win for
@Roche
and a warm welcome to Juergen. With his efforts and leadership of IHB, more bridges will form between academia and pharma to enable better and faster drug development.
@Knoblich_lab
🧠Shape matters! Breakthrough in pediatric brain organoids! Discover in this cutting-edge research from
@prinsesmaximac
and
@_Hubrecht
how these mini-brains are paving the way for targeted treatments of childhood brain tumors.
#Organoids
Essential features of the cortex, like cell organization, stem cell expansion and cell identity, are more accurately captured in organoids. The mini-organs were generated by researchers of the Máxima Center and the
@_Hubrecht
Institute.
@NatureComms
Updating
#VaticanCity
on the latest in
#stemcell
science through a workshop organised by Helen Blau and Elaine Fuchs for the Pontifical Academia Scientiarum -the pope's scientific academia-, located behind the
#StPeterBasilica
last week
Next Monday (16-11), I speak at this virtual symposium bringing together artists, academics, biologists and creative technologists to examine the confluence of art and science. Part of Mutating Story-exhibition by
@jacobvanderbeugel
in museum Beelden aan Zee
Yorick Post defended his thesis this morning (his midnight) from San Francisco.
#snakevenom
#cardiacstemcells
#teargland
. Entirely virtual, which was at moments a bit awkward, but it went very well. Cum laude!
Interested in watching a traditional Dutch thesis defense in COVID times? No 16th century senate hall, but some great science:
@JensPuschhof
on genotoxic E coli in
#ColonCancer
,
#snakevenom
gland
#organoids
, gut hormones and more. Tue 9-3 at 10:30 CET.
Great thesis defense by Kadi Lohmussaar today!
@Organoids
of female genital tract and gynecological cancers. Picture taken in front of the
@UtrechtUni
female professors wall (Note the 'Make Estonia Great Again'-flag on Kadi's jacket.)
Many adult stem cells remain to be identified.Together with
#TeamIHB
’s
@BeumerJoep
, we review the current state of knowledge, highlight their complexity and potential to make new models and approaches for drug discovery. 👉🏻Read more:
🌟Adult stem cells: a biological universe still to be fully explored🌟
@BeumerJoep
&
@HansClevers
review how we biologically define these cells and chart new research avenues that could lead to new medical innovation. More at
#RocheInnovation
@IHB_Research
The virtual EMBO/EMBL Symposium '
#Organoids
: Modelling
#Organ
#Development
and
#Disease
in 3D'
#EESOrgan
is starting today.
->
Looking for a home for your paper? Have an online chat with our editor Esther Schnapp and tell her about your work.
Despite the rise of drug resistance, there has not been a single novel class of antibiotics effective against gram-negative bacteria on the market since 1968. Proud of this research done in
#pRED
. Check it out: and .
Scientific progress is key to solving major global health challenges. Resistant bacteria today present a major threat. To outsmart them, our very dedicated scientists have now found a promising and surprising new path.
📷 Check out our latest discoveries in this field to address…
A great ''behind the paper'' by
@HendriksDelilah
: the most recent progress on CRISPR-engineering human liver organoids.
CRISPRing mini human livers
#method
#protocol
And these are the PhD students who -with some fantastic collaborators- conceived and executed the
#snake
#venom
gland
#organoid
project: Yorick Post, Joep Beumer and Jens Puschhof. Post et al
#Cell
doi 10.1016/j.cell.2019.11.038
Our phD students Cayetano, Jens and Axel explain how a common E coli variant secretes a mutagen and induces a unique mutational signature upon chronic exposure inside gut
#organoids
. This signature also occurs in some colon cancers.
Benedetta Artegiani, Delilah Hendriks and collaborators made the cover of Nature Cell Biology reporting a highly efficient gene insertion technique for human
@organoids
For the complete paper:
Organoid models offer new perspectives in
#PersonalizedMedicine
and drug discovery.
📖 In this review, the authors discuss the current liver
#organoid
models for the study of liver disease.
🔓 Open access
In 1887, the Viennese pathologist Josef Paneth gives the first describtion of Paneth cells, residing at the crypt base (the whitish cells at the top). Of note, he indicates tiny cells nestled between the Paneth cells with an 's'. Of note also, this is Figure 29 of his paper..
🚀 Exciting news! We are honoured to be recognised as an innovative leader in the world's top 20 BioPharma employers
@ScienceCareers
2023 Top Employers! 🏆
Find out more here:
🚀 Excited to see three of our innovation engines make it to the prestigious list
@ScienceCareers
2023 Top Employers! 🔝
Our recipe for success? A wealth of passion, a good deal of autonomy, and the strength of our collective experience.
Visited the Science Dome
@Roche
in Basel this weekend, where I was immersed into a virtual reality experience through the brain. Upon until June 3rd
#CelebrateScience
#Roche125