How can we print an organ? That is the central question guiding my research as a new PhD candidate for DRIVE-RM. In particular, my interest lies in the fabrication of a kidney, the organ responsible for filtering blood and producing urine. With its million tiny filters and tubes, this organ has an intricate structure that so far has not been replicated to its full extent.
The first step towards printing a kidney lies in regenerating kidney tissue. In the RMU nephrology group, we already know how to regrow miniature pieces of kidney tissue derived from a patient’s own urine. Since they mostly represent properties of a kidney tubule, we call them tubule organoids, or in short: tubuloids. I will research how blood vessels can be connected to these tubuloids. If the ultimate goal is to use tubuloids in living patients, blood vessel formation is an important step - it will provide the tubuloids with oxygen and nutrients. One approach is to learn from other animals. For instance, I will try if a blood-rich membrane from chicken eggs can vascularise tubuloids and take lessons from that.
As a next step, biofabrication technologies might help us mimic the kidney’s architecture more closely. The hypothesis is that placing cells in a biomimetic microstructure will influence how much they regain their kidney function. For instance, we could try to suspend tubuloids in printable ink (extrusion-based bioprinting), or evaluate how they behave on a preprinted scaffold (melt electrowriting). These techniques have been utilised extensively by the Malda-group, albeit mostly for musculoskeletal tissue. My mission is to bring these techniques towards the kidney realm, trying to find crossover topics between Prof Malda’s work in biofabrication and Prof Verhaar’s work in kidney regeneration.
Seeing that multidisciplinarity is a key part of my project, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight my drive to establish interinstitutional collaboration. Mathematical modelling, clinical translation, ethics or even policy making, I would be happy to connect with any adjacent field to kidney biofab.
As a medical doctor, I have seen many patients suffering from chronic kidney disease. Some of them were dependent on tri-weekly dialysis treatment, others on immunosuppressants after transplants. All of them experienced a considerable impact on their quality of life. For the future, I hope that it will be possible to offer a personalised, lab-grown kidney to all those in need of one.
What thrills me most about regenerative medicine is how research lines can intersect. It demands speaking each other’s language, sharing knowledge and supporting each other as a community. Not only my project has been designed as a combination of biology, engineering and medicine; the entire consortium is based on interdisciplinarity. Ultimately, this collaborative approach is what will once bring a bioprinted kidney from bench to bedside.
