Nancy Allbritton's Biography

Nancy Allbritton, Kenan Professor of Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering and Chair of the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University

Nancy L. Allbritton is the Kenan Professor of Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering and Chair of the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and North Carolina State University (NC State). Her research focuses on the development of novel technologies for applications in single-cell analysis, micro-arrays and fluidics, and organ-on-chip and has resulted in over 180 full-length journal publications and patents and led to 15 commercial products. Her research program has been well funded by the National Institutes of Health with $60 million in grant funding since 1994. Four companies have been formed based on her research discoveries: Protein Simple (acquired by Bio-Techne in 2014 for $308M), Intellego (subsequently integrated into International Rectifier), Cell Microsystems (www.cellmicrosystems.com), and Altis Biosystems (www.altisbiosystems.com). Dr. Allbritton is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors. She obtained her B.S. in physics from Louisiana State University, M.D. from Johns Hopkins University, and Ph.D. in Medical Physics/Medical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University.

Intestinal Epithelium for Basic Physiology and Drug Assays

Monday, 14 October 2019 at 09:30

Add to Calendar ▼2019-10-14 08:15:002019-10-14 09:15:00Europe/LondonConference ChairpersonOrgan-on-a-Chip World Congress 2019 in Coronado Island, CaliforniaCoronado Island, CaliforniaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

Organ-on-chips are miniaturized devices that arrange living cells to simulate functional subunits of tissues and organs. These microdevices provide exquisite control of tissue microenvironment for the investigation of organ-level physiology and disease. Human organ-on-chips are expected to transform biomedical research providing platforms that accurately replicate human tissues, enable a better understanding of human-to-human physiologic variations, and even permit patient-specific organ mimics. These human organ facsimiles will fundamentally alter drug discovery and development by providing human constructs for screening assays, toxicity measurements and investigation of molecular-level drug actions. Breakthroughs in stem-cell biology now enable single stem cells or intestinal crypts isolated from primary mouse or human intestine or differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to grow and persist indefinitely in defined 3D culture conditions to form organotypic structures generically termed enteroids. We have developed a long-lived, self-renewing monolayer culture format from primary intestinal cells. A surface matrix and chemical factors sustain the epithelial cell monolayers so that they possess all cell repertoires found in vivo. This technical advance has made it possible to create primary tissues on platforms that are compatible with high-content screening strategies. For example, the screening of 77 dietary compounds revealed that these compounds altered proliferation to increase stem cell numbers or increased cell differentiation with formation of increased numbers of goblet cells or enterocytes. Measurement of drug transport and metabolism has also been demonstrated in these human intestinal monolayer systems as well as formation of physiologic mucus layers many hundreds of microns thick. Culture of these monolayers on a shaped scaffold under chemical gradients replicates much of the cell compartmentalization and physiology observed in vivo. This bioanalytical platform is envisioned as a next-generation system for assay of microbiome-, drug- and toxin-interactions with the intestinal epithelia. Finally, intestinal biopsy samples can be used to populate these constructs with cells producing patient-specific tissues for personalized medicine that can be applied to emerging areas of disease modeling and microbiome studies.

Conference Chairperson

Monday, 14 October 2019 at 08:15

Add to Calendar ▼2019-10-14 00:00:002019-10-15 00:00:00Europe/LondonOrgan-on-a-Chip World Congress 2019Organ-on-a-Chip World Congress 2019 in Coronado Island, CaliforniaCoronado Island, CaliforniaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

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