The central challenge for medical biotechnology is to build better cell-based model systems that deepen our understanding of disease and point towards new ways to treat it. We focus on questions such as:
Organoids are mini-organs: tiny, self-organised three-dimensional tissue cultures grown from stem cells or tumours. Their size, advanced differentiation, and human origin make them a convincing alternative to classic cell culture and animal models for preclinical drug testing and disease modelling. We use imaging and biochemical analysis to compare how healthy and diseased organoids develop and respond.
A growing part of our work uses patient-derived organoids, grown from tissue supplied through our collaboration with Aarhus University Hospital (AUH). Because these organoids carry the genetic and cellular features of the individual patient, they let us study disease in a setting that stays close to the clinic and open the door to more personalised approaches to treatment and drug response.
The small size of organoids creates new opportunities for high-resolution imaging, allowing us to follow disease development and prevention inside a complex cellular system.
Many imaging methods exist, each with its own strengths and limits. We combine light sheet microscopy and X-ray tomography (XT) to image organoids across scales, from live dynamics and molecular labelling to detailed three-dimensional structure. Light sheet microscopy lets us follow whole, intact organoids quickly and gently, while X-ray tomography reveals their internal architecture in three dimensions at high resolution. Together the two methods bridge the gap between molecular detail and whole-organoid context.
