Carina Ämmälä,
Team leader, Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism,
AstraZeneca
Dr Carina Ämmälä is team leader for in vitro islet biology in the Cardiovascular Renal and Metabolism department at AstraZenca. She joined in 2010 and has since led the development of innovative novel models to investigate the function human insulin secreting islets of Langerhans. Most recently Dr Ämmälä and colleagues have developed a model of organ-cross talk using human islet and hepatocyte organoids, a microphysiological system that is now being applied in diabetes drug discovery for mechanistic studies exploring novel targets. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr Ämmälä worked for 10 years at GlaxoSmithKline in preclinical drug discovery with a focus on progressing targets improving functional islet mass as treatments for type 2 diabetes. Dr Ämmälä holds a PhD in Physiology from University of Gothenburg and an MSc in engineering physics for Chalmers University of Technology.
Functional Coupling of Human Pancreatic Islet Microtissues and Liver Spheroids in a Novel Micro-Physiological Multi-Organ System for Studies of Human Metabolic Diseases in Drug Discovery
Tuesday, 18 June 2019 at 17:45
Add to Calendar ▼2019-06-18 17:45:002019-06-18 18:45:00Europe/LondonFunctional Coupling of Human Pancreatic Islet Microtissues and Liver Spheroids in a Novel Micro-Physiological Multi-Organ System for Studies of Human Metabolic Diseases in Drug DiscoveryOrgan-on-a-Chip and Tissue-on-a-Chip Europe 2019 in Rotterdam, The NetherlandsRotterdam, The NetherlandsSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
Multi organ-on-a-chip technologies, emulating human physiology and mimicking human disease states, could aid preclinical efforts by providing relevant translational models to validate targets and test tool compounds early in drug discovery. Such models have the potential to improve translation to patients, decrease time spent in early clinical programs and reduce the need for animal models.
Rodent studies have shown that insulin resistance causes hepatocytes to produce secreted factors that influence the islets. Whether similar cross talk exist in man remains to be determined. We therefore decided to develop a human liver - pancreatic islets chip model. Pancreatic islets and liver spheroids were applied in a two-organ microfluidic chip supplied by TissUse™ that allows cross talk between both organs. We have demonstrated that the model responds in a physiological way to a glucose load by increasing insulin secretion, which stimulates glucose consumption by the liver spheroids. Both islet and liver spheroids show stable functionality as indicated by insulin secretion, albumin production and glucose consumption over the experimental period of two weeks. Initial results indicate that the liver spheroids can be made insulin resistant, altering hepatocyte transcriptome and secreted proteome, and thus represent a relevant metabolic disease model.
Add to Calendar ▼2019-06-18 00:00:002019-06-19 00:00:00Europe/LondonOrgan-on-a-Chip and Tissue-on-a-Chip Europe 2019Organ-on-a-Chip and Tissue-on-a-Chip Europe 2019 in Rotterdam, The NetherlandsRotterdam, The NetherlandsSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
Add to Calendar ▼2019-06-18 17:45:002019-06-18 18:45:00Europe/LondonFunctional Coupling of Human Pancreatic Islet Microtissues and Liver Spheroids in a Novel Micro-Physiological Multi-Organ System for Studies of Human Metabolic Diseases in Drug DiscoveryOrgan-on-a-Chip and Tissue-on-a-Chip Europe 2019 in Rotterdam, The NetherlandsRotterdam, The NetherlandsSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
